Mr. Shaun Flanagan:

We try to risk assess people and where we can we pull out cases where it is obvious that people will retain their cards. We review a minority of the people whose cards expire and we are progressively trying to make it more and more sensitive. We have tried to put in place a team that reaches out in difficult cases where people are not engaging or where there a lot of calls to our contact centre. We have tried to put in place a team that reaches out to people, almost like a case manager if we want to put it like that. We are always open to seeing whether we can improve. We can look again at the phone calls to see whether there is a possibility of doing something if we are down to a very small number of non-responders.

I may not have fully understood the question with regard to those aged over 70 who apply for a full medical card when they already have a GP visit card. If somebody gets a GP visit card because they are aged over 70 it is without a means test. It is automatic eligibility. We would probably not have a means test in this circumstance. If somebody has been through a means test in the past it may be out of date if it had taken place a good number of months previously. I may have misunderstood the question.