Mr. Tony O'Brien:

On this specific point, irrespective of the expiry date that may be printed on a card that was issued some time ago, the person must continue to be eligible for it in order to retain it. On other occasions we are in the room next door to this one meeting the Committee of Public Accounts, and the issue it would wish to talk about is the extent to which we do random checks to ensure that only those entitled to a medical card are in receipt of them. While I understand the Deputy's point about someone being marginally over the limit, they are still over the limit and the discretion of the HSE to issue medical cards to people who are over the limit, unless there is a clear medical ground, does not exist. The rules are not made by the HSE but we are obliged to enforce them.