Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I take the Deputy's point. It would never be the intention or wish of the HSE or any of us to discommode individual applicants, particularly those in the kind of circumstances outlined by the Deputy. I reiterate that there are more than 1.8 million medical cards and in excess of 130,000 GP-visit cards in circulation. This means that almost 43% the population is covered by either medical cards or GP-visit cards. As stated earlier, the number of people in possession of these cards has increased enormously since 2009. The centralisation of the applications process has improved matters. Notwithstanding that difficulties may have been experienced or observed along the way, as Deputy Tom Hayes has acknowledged there have been manifest improvements. I cannot state that we have achieved perfection but the system has definitely improved. I observed that the latter was the case even before I took up my new position. We want these improvements to continue.

As Deputy Tom Hayes has also acknowledged, the primary care reimbursement service unit in Finglas is processing in the region of 30,000 to 40,000 applications on average each month. We have taken a range of steps to improve the system. The Deputy referred to an individual case. In that context, the HSE is reporting - I have no reason to question its information in this regard - that in excess of 95% of completed applications and renewals are processed within 15 working days. This is well ahead of the performance target and is not a bad achievement.

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