Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This session. As Deputy Martin rightly pointed out and as other Deputies have raised about particular cases that have come into the national media, anybody would look at these cases and say that of course the situations of those children should be helped. I expect they will be. When the move was made to centralise all of the medical card applications, it brought the same assessment right across the board. It is how one then applies the circumstances from a discretionary point of view that matters. Clearly, there has been a need to be able to communicate what is involved in this from both sides. The Deputy knows this himself. Children in need of attention or particular facilities should be able to get them.

On the move towards universal health insurance, the first 240,000 under five year olds will have free GP care. Numbers of those children already have full medical cards because of their particular medical circumstances. It is a matter that the Deputy can validly raise on the Bill when it comes before the House.

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