Mr. Tony O'Brien:

Every person who applies and who is not successful will receive a financial statement. Given that it ultimately comes back to a financial calculation they receive a financial statement which sets out the information that has been taken into account and shows the calculations. There is that level of transparency. Clearly it should never be necessary for a person to resort to FOI in order to get that kind of information. Also it may be useful for public representatives to be aware that when they are presented with people who have an issue with the outcome of their determination that their attention might be brought to the statement they receive. Sometimes we find that people make a case that is not about the financial assessment but about their view of what the medical card system should be as opposed to what it currently is.