Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with what the Minister said, that we need to hire more public dentists and bring them into the public system.

The medical card issue was mentioned and I accept what the Minister said as regards a hierarchy of health. We accept that with those who are terminally ill, particularly those who have cancer, it is only right and proper that they have access to a medical card.

One of the issues raised constantly regarding the medical card, and again it relates to cancer treatment, is the fact that the MoviPrep preparation for a colonoscopy is not covered by the medical card. Have the Minister and his officials looked at that? It costs approximately €25. A constituent who is a pensioner contacted me during the week and said that €25 is a big chunk out of her income. There is a cost for cancer care, as the Minister knows, and she is facing into this. I know people can go to the community welfare officer and so on. A colonoscopy is quite common to try to ascertain if someone has cancer of the bowel, colon and so on. Could it be looked at at some stage? I know it is probably outside the Estimates but a bit like new drugs, maybe this could be looked at? I know there has been some controversy about it. There are other preparations that are available and are probably much cheaper but probably not as successful as the one that is usually authorised by GPs and the hospital system.