Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Henry. I will move on to my next question. At previous meetings, in front of the Minister and every official, I have raised the question of hardship grounds for the granting of full medical cards. I have raised this as a Topical Issue twice or three times. I received very nice and respectful replies, but no action was taken. There was no action whatsoever. In fact, I can honestly say that my questions were treated with contempt. Hopefully, it is not a case of somebody being in a position to say "We will shut that guy up because we are not going to do anything, ever." Who suffers? It is the patients. These are not isolated incidents. There is an increasing number of incidents where somebody takes a decision on income grounds. This is not about income grounds; it this is about hardship grounds whereby the condition of the patient relates to a series of issues that have a significant impact on a person's general health. In some cases where accidents may have taken place or things may have gone wrong in hospital, they were treated the same way. As a result, because of their life-threatening and life-changing conditions, they were ignored altogether. The time has come for an awakening of the people who are responsible in that area. I mean real awakening. If there is not such an awakening, I will have to find other means of highlighting the issue, and I will do so. I do not want to do not without giving adequate warning to the people concerned. This issue is there and it needs to be dealt with.