Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation and for their work in this area. I will return to the issue of the medical card because I know the income limit not increasing was mentioned. I have dealt with the medical card division and have found it to be extremely approachable as regards dealing with difficult circumstances. Can we get an idea of the number of discretionary cards that have issued? This is where somebody has a particular health issue and is above the income threshold but, because of the medical issue, what we call a discretionary card is issued. I understand that more than 1.8 million people have medical cards. How many of these are discretionary medical cards? I am thinking of someone with cancer or a medical issue where they need to constantly go for medical care.