Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to thank all our witnesses today. Many of the questions being asked by members are questions that require political answers and it is unfair to take it out on some of the people today who are administering the schemes. The decisions with regard to who gets a medical card or a GP visit card are essentially political ones and it is important to bear that in mind. We are told that 42% of people have free GP care. That leaves a very large number of people who do not have access to subsidised or free GP care. It is important to bear in mind that we are very much an outlier in European terms in that the majority of people in the country have to pay to see a GP. That does not make any sense from a health perspective, an equality perspective or anything like that.

We have a very long way to go in providing access to primary care. It is also worth pointing out that if Sláintecare had been implemented in the timescale it was supposed to be, there would now be access for the population to free or subsidised GP care. We have a very long way to go and we must always keep that in mind.

What is the position with the increase in medical cards for people who are unemployed, given the huge increase in the unemployment rate over the past 15 months or so? What number of people have come into the scheme? There was a proposal where if people were unemployed for six months or more, they would retain their medical card when going back to employment. Not many people have gone back to employment but is that still operating? When is the review of the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, likely to take place?

I note what Ms O'Callaghan has said about the legislation with respect to the extension of medical cards to more children but my understanding is agreement had been reached with GPs in the context of an overall agreement with them last year taking in the reinstatement of pay by unwinding financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation and so on, as well as various practice supports. Part of that agreement was that GP visit cards would be extended to children. What is the exact problem with doing that and why have we not seen it happen? What is the timeline for the permanent scheme to provide medical cards to people with terminal illnesses? Has there been movement on the question of people who are over 70 having means assessed on the basis of gross income rather than net income, as it applies to people under 70?