Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive response and acknowledge the commitment she has given. Her efforts have been clearly demonstrated in rectifying many of the processing difficulties that have arisen. On the whole, my experience and that of the staff in my office of the processing of fresh applications indicates that the process is working well. Applicants receive text messages stating their medical card is in the post. As I have outlined, the difficulty lies in the review process. It almost makes sense in some cases for people not to request a review but to make a fresh application and enter the information already submitted for review as part of a new application. I call on the Minister of State to re-examine the review process with a view to rectifying the difficulties that have arisen to make the process run smoothly. Anomalies remain, including one whereby a loan received from one agency is not categorised as a home loan because it has not been received from a lending institution but from a service provider.

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