Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The difficulty we face is not so much that there is a problem but that there is denial on the part of the Taoiseach that there is a problem when his own backbenchers indicate there is a problem. We accept that 22,000 people who had discretionary cards now have full medical cards. We will have to look back over the history of the medical card process to see the transition from discretionary to full medical card. I have seen in my constituency a little girl in the care of the Jack and Jill Foundation who has a very serious heart condition and who had a discretionary medical card for about four years from the date of her birth but which was withdrawn. The case was appealed and she got the medical card back, but it took 13 months. I raised with the Minister of State the issue of a young couple where the husband has multiple sclerosis and serious kidney disease, both of which conditions are progressive. The husband had a discretionary medical card because of his medical condition, and although his family income went down progressively from 2009 to 2012, his medical card was withdrawn. Any number of appeals to the Minister of State and to the HSE-----

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