Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is one difference with the capital. Let us say there is €100,000 of capital. In the case of social welfare, for a pension it counts as €270 a week. If one takes the same €100,000 and put it in the bank, and for the medical card there is an option to do it for real interest earned, so if one got a 1% interest rate on one's capital then it is €1,000 a year or €20 a week, against the €270 a week. So very few people get caught on a medical card by capital but they do absolutely get destroyed on social welfare.