Ms Laverne McGuinness:

Okay. It is correct that in the past clients with cancer, irrespective of incomes, may have got discretionary medical cards. An entitlement to a medical card is primarily on the basis of financial assessment but if there are significant medical conditions and the client is marginally over a limit, there would be another assessment. There is no automatic entitlement on the basis that the maximum that anybody must pay for the drugs is €144 in a month. There is no automatic entitlement if a person has cancer, unless it is life-limiting.