Mr. Paul Flanagan:

I will focus on the medical card specifically for one second. The core objective of the medical card system is obviously to support citizens in this State to access care when they need it most and to ensure that people who experience undue financial hardship can access that care. There are two important points to make in that context. The first is that overall numbers of medical cards would indicate that the medical card system is broadly operating effectively and fulfilling its objective. Some 1.6 million medical cards have been issued and administered to citizens of the State. I would also look at the additionality of GP visit cards and the role they play over and above that very significant cohort of the population who are benefiting from medical card administration. That is just one piece.

The second piece is that when we look at medical card income thresholds generally, we obviously have cases where people are on the margins of those income thresholds and may fall out and not receive a medical card eligibility because they exceed the current existing thresholds. It is important to note that the HSE has significant discretion and flexibility to address that case-----