Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

For the information of the Deputy and of the House, I can only deal with the issue of medical cards, not the social welfare issue or the other matters referred to by the Deputy. As the House has previously been informed, the HSE has confirmed that the average waiting time for an appeal is currently between four and 12 weeks. On 18 March 2013, 95.38% of medical card applications were being processed within 15 working days. I understand the Deputy's point about the historical difficulties of a backlog of people waiting for decisions, but the facts prove that this has been largely addressed.

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