Mr. Paul Flanagan:

This speaks to the qualifying criteria for medical cards in the first instance, which, as I mentioned earlier, is based primarily on residency and means. Medical card eligibility on the basis of specific illness was examined in 2014 by an HSE expert advisory group, which examined the context and the possibility of providing medical cards to recognise particular illnesses. That expert advisory group process shone a light on the complexities around that approach, not least the ethical decisions around what illnesses should be in the scope for medical card eligibility.