Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am making a different point, which is very simple. Of the 10,393 people, 6,282 got GP visit cards, with an increase in GP visit cards as there is a direct correlation between a reduction in medical cards and their change to GP visit cards. Of the 45,000 withdrawn medical cards, a quarter came from discretionary medical cards, but those cards only make up 0.3% of the total number of medical cards. People with discretionary medical cards have them for medical reasons. The basis of the medical card system from day one was to provide medical care for people with medical conditions who could not afford treatment. I am worried that there are people on discretionary medical cards with defined serious medical conditions, whereas a large cohort of the overall number of medical card holders may not use their cards. Is it correct that 10,000 cards were withdrawn?