Mr. John Hennessy:

The director general has pointed out that the running costs of around €30 million per annum work out at about 1.19% of the overall budget. That covers the medical card scheme, accounting for €1.8 billion of that overall budget, and approximately €600 million on other schemes such as the dental service, the ophthalmic service, the long term illness service and the drugs payment scheme, among a number of others. There are 12 schemes altogether being administered by the PCRS in its entirety, but the medical card scheme would be a significant part of that overall position.

In terms of the output of the review process, the overall picture would represent an impact of approximately 20% of the total number that are reviewed in any period of time. In a particular year, for instance, the number that would actually be refused on the basis of a means assessment is quite small, at somewhere between 4% and 6%, but the far bigger impact would be from the cards that are cancelled for other reasons, usually because people choose not to renew or reapply at that time, or they may have left the area. The impact in terms of the return on the investment of reviewing is quite significant. If we were not to do any reviews, we would run the risk of significant expenditure on cards that are not necessary or required.