Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the representatives from the HSE. It is worth saying that over 1.7 million medical cards and over 400,000 general practitioner cards have been issued. Over 200,000 children have been registered for the under-six scheme to date and nearly 50,000 people have registered for the over-70 scheme.

Much work has gone into that and the service should be congratulated on it.

When I became a Deputy in 2011, there were over 100 offices across the country processing medical card applications. The centralised, uniform medical card application system seems to be working and to be a lot more organised than the old system. It had a very shaky start in 2011. Members of this committee visited the centre in Finglas twice in recent years and have seen at first hand the work that is being done.

It was stated 75% of applicants were deemed eligible for medical cards and 25% were not. I am very impressed with this rate. It was also stated that from 2005 to 2015, there has been a 33% increase in the number of medical cards and GP cards. Could the witnesses provide a comparative analysis of the figures? Some 86% of applicants completed their forms without assistance. To me, this seems to be a very high number. It was stated 19,500 items of information are received in the post every week. This seems to be an awful lot of paperwork each week. How many staff are working on this?

The number of discretionary medical cards has jumped from 71,000 in September 2014 to over 95,000 in December 2015. I welcome that increase. Deputy Byrne asked how many people were refused discretionary medical cards during that period.

The medical card service has come a long way. For a long time, every time one looked at a newspaper or listened to a radio programme one encountered medical card problems. It does not seem to be a major problem now. I commend the staff involved. It is nice to see the HSE doing a great job; I am not going to say it does not normally do a good job. Sometimes it is nice to get a wee clap on the back. The difference between a clap on the back and a kick on the backside is only six inches. Well done.