Mr. Joe Ryan:

End-of-life medical cards are not reviewed for the lifetime of the patient once they are issued. Under the existing 12-month arrangement for emergency cards, where those are issued to people with terminal conditions, they are not reviewed either. We suspended reviews of medical card at the start of the pandemic, which was around this time last year. They were resumed at the end of August but in any month between 65% and 80% of cards would not require any further application process and would be automatically extended. We risk-assess cards where they are unlikely to meet that threshold and we have to go through an application process with people in that regard. To be clear, end-of-life cards are provided on the basis of end of life. In relation to medical cards, they are provided on the basis of the person's means and residential status.