Ms Celeste O'Callaghan:

If an individual case arose where somebody was having difficulty getting a medical card and felt that he or she was entitled to it, I am sure that could be followed up by colleagues in the HSE. I do not think that we have had a situation like that yet. One aspect of this of which we are conscious is that it is a new scheme and works on an administrative basis. There are challenges around areas such as making a prognosis. It was flagged clearly in the report of the clinical advisory group that it is not a precise science and it is a clinical judgment at a point in time. What we would expect is that over the coming months, while the new administrative scheme is in place, there will be lessons about some of those issues and these can be examined and incorporated into the work we are doing to develop the legislation.