Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----and that is that I see no reason a person who contracted motor neurone disease four or five years ago and was granted a discretionary medical card should be contacted again. It is beyond belief that such a person would be asked to furnish new medical information. If there are clinicians on that clinical panel, they should know full well that the disease is incurable but we have a situation where these people are being dragged through a bureaucratic system.

The Minister should accept at this late stage that the discretionary medical card was there for a good and valid reason. It was there to bring humanity and provide support in a very bureaucratic system, which was the case with medical cards. It was there for the right reasons and it should be maintained for the right reasons. The idea the Minister would deny there has been a targeting of discretionary medical cards is indefensible as Mr. Hennessy said himself.

See this speech in context