Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to delay because I know I will inevitably be crushed by a massive majority. At the risk of being accused of being repetitive, we have already discussed the eligibility. Under this section a person who has been notified that he or she is eligible for a medical card shall "at any time after such notification, furnish to the Health Service Executive such information regarding that person’s income and assets as the Health Service Executive considers necessary for it to establish if that person has or continues to have full eligibility." This is the assessment process that will be put in place and the notification obligations of an individual.

I must be very careful here because I do not wish to reflect on the individuals working in the primary care reimbursement centre working very diligently to try to assess people's eligibility but there are major difficulties and every Deputy would accept that. Individuals are being randomly selected for a review process and they could be in their 80s or 90s. Some time ago I raised the case of a 96 year old from Cavan who was being assessed after random selection by the computer. I accept that if the legislation is passed there is a primary obligation to enforce it because the Parliament will have decided and it must be followed through. However, would the Minister not think that profiling would be a better way of assessing people for eligibility than random selection?

The idea that a 90 year old who is under huge pressure physically, bed bound and in full-time care would be randomly selected to furnish details that would invariably allow him or her to retain his or her medical card is bizarre. Am I missing something here? The Minister of State will have to examine this process of reviewing and requesting information because the random selection process is bizarre. The Department's Estimate provides for the generation of €113 million through the probity audit and there is no doubt it will be vigorously enforced through the review process. Medical card reviews should be undertaken on a profiling basis and on the basis of high risk as opposed to random selection through which people will be picked out who invariably will retain their medical card. It would be fine to randomly select if there was a quick assessment made of whether a person was high risk. Surely a 90 year old man is unlikely to be at high risk of being in breach of criteria for a medical card. I hope the Minister of State understands what I am driving at.