James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad that this is the case. It was only right and proper that this arrangement should be reached. It was a very arbitrary decision to exclude women purely on the basis of their date of birth when they suffered the same harm and damage by the aforementioned Dr. Neary.

In respect of medical cardholders, both the Deputy and I have a responsibility not to cause alarm among people unnecessarily. I made it very clear and the Minister of State has already alluded to the fact that we have put in place a communication strategy to communicate with people to reassure them that their entitlements are not changing in terms of the medical card. If they are legally entitled to a medical card, they will get it and if they have one, they will keep it. There will be no question of people losing their medical cards because of a change in policy. There is no change in policy and it is very important to state that it was never the case that any particular medical condition gave a right to a medical card. What was the case was that medical conditions could lead to particular financial hardship, which was a ground for giving discretionary medical cards and that remains the case. Last year, I asked the HSE to formulate a panel of doctors to ensure that even more latitude and compassion would be in the system to deal with those difficult cases.

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