Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Everybody in this House knows that there have been problems in some cases with regard to the issuing of discretionary medical cards. The Minister for Health has made it very clear that the issue is being addressed. Somebody with a need for a medical card ought to have one. There have clearly been some cases in which medical cards either have been withdrawn or have not been issued when the person concerned should have had one. The matter is being addressed. It does not follow that because there are individual cases in which the wrong decisions have been made in the issuing and administration of medical cards, there is an overall change in policy. The Deputy should not come in and slap that contention in front of a Government that has issued more medical cards than at any time in the history of the State.

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