Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I hear what Deputy Ó Caoláin is saying. My constituency office hears about similar issues from time to time. Approximately 2 million people have either a medical card or a GP visit card. Hundreds of thousands of applications are processed and reviews are carried out every year. Even in the best system, if 2% or 3% of applications go wrong, this means 4,000 to 6,000 cases are going wrong.

The ten actions announced by the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and I two weeks ago have the potential to improve the situation a good deal, as well as the implementation of the Deloitte/Prospectus report. We can definitely improve the situation and reduce the number of errors and problems such as the problem Deputy Ó Caoláin has outlined. However, it will always be the case that mistakes will be made where an organisation is dealing with so many applications. Certainly, I encourage Deputies to bring these cases to the attention of the HSE and the PCRS in order that they can be rectified.