Mr. Patrick Burke:

The precise figures are that 97,121 were recorded on the register flagged as discretionary. A total of 38,283 on 1 October still had a medical card on the basis of discretion. A total of 41,779 are on the register, but they are not flagged as having eligibility on the basis of discretion but on the basis of an assessment of their means against the guidelines. The balancing figure is 17,059 which I have broken down as follows: 2,361 deceased; 6,265 from which there has been no response despite repeated questions; 2,109 did not provide the material we needed to conduct an assessment, while 6,324 were not eligible when assessed against the guidelines.