Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

-----to locate in areas where we are currently experiencing difficulty getting GPs? We continue to have difficulty in regard to the numbers of general practitioners in training. To increase the figure of 52 per 100,000 will require the training of additional general practitioners. This issue will need to be addressed.

I believe the limits for medical cards need to be urgently amended. The current limits for medical cards have not been changed in the past five or six years. While no problem arises in respect of families whose sole income is social welfare, there are significant difficulties in respect of families whose only income is from low paid employment.

The medical card limit for a single person living alone and working is €184 per week, taking account of rent and so on. As I stated, these limits have not been increased since 2006. The current limit for a medical card for a married couple under 65 years of age is €266.50 per week. The limits are simply out of date. We will probably be told that the number of medical cards granted in the past 12 months, or even two years, has increased substantially. Of course it has, but it has increased because of the number of people on the unemployment register and whose sole income is social welfare. Applicants who are working, in particular those in low paid employment, are being disadvantaged by the current limits and I ask the Minister to look at them and increase them accordingly. As I said, that has not been done for quite some time.

I hope the Bill passes through the House reasonably quickly and I look forward to working with the Minister and the other members of the Select Committee on Health and Children.

See this speech in context