Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

That provision is of the utmost importance to the rural social scheme. Unless the situation is clear to community health officers, they cannot state otherwise. I understand there has been no clarification in this area and the Minister is simply informing the House how he believes it should be. However, clarification on the availability of secondary benefits, such as the medical card, is needed and vital to the scheme. It is unfortunate that the farmers have been made scapegoats in this area.

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