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

The job of the Committee of Public Accounts is to examine the procedures performed by the organisations that come before us. Would it give better value for money for the taxpayer and, more particularly, people who are seriously ill if more energy was directed, for instance, at the issues under general review? How many medical cards under general review are in the names of people who are deceased? Are there medical cards that are part of the general cohort which are not being used? A lot of the HSE's time and ours, as public representatives, but, more particularly, that of people who have seriously ill children is taken up in dealing with the discretionary medical card issue. How many of the 97,000 discretionary medical cards have been subject to review? How many of the general cohort of 1.9 million medical cards have been subject to review?