Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government is committed to extending universal access to the whole population within the lifetime of this Government. That is not the full medical card because, as the Deputy will say, there are other services as well. In recent days, the Minister for Health acknowledged that there are other services to which many people need access that they do not have with a GP-only card but would have with a full card. We may need to examine innovative ways of ensuring that those kind of services are available to people who need them, without necessarily doing so through the full medical card system.

I am in favour of the universality system but I cannot override the 1970 Health Act. Neither the Minister, Deputy Reilly nor I, nor anybody else can extend medical cards to people other than in accordance with the law. The law refers to "undue hardship" which can only be ascertained through an assessment of financial means, with the extra discretionary effect where somebody's condition or illness is affecting their financial situation. That is the position.

I understand the case the Deputy is making and I appreciate his support for the universality principle. We have some distance to go on this but the more support we have across the board politically, and in the broader society, for universal access to GP services the better.

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