Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State can dress it up anyway he wants. It confirms to me that many Dublin-based Deputies must not have clinics because the hard facts and evidence coming to every clinic the length and breadth of the country, which any Deputy of any political party or none will cite, is that these discretionary medical cards are being culled at an alarming rate. I spoke recently to a woman who had had a mastectomy and her medical card was culled. As my colleague stated, according to Down Syndrome Ireland, the mother of a young boy was asked to prove he still has Down's syndrome. Cancer patients and people with motor neurone disease are also affected. The list goes on and on. Whatever way the Minister of State wants to dress it up, the simple hard facts of the matter are people with a medical need for a discretionary medical card are being deprived of it. The Minister of State speaks about establishing information units to inform people of their entitlements. How much will these information units cost? Why can people not be given their entitlements? Their medical conditions cause them enough anxiety and worry without putting them through more anxiety and worry appealing and re-applying for medical cards which ultimately they do not get.

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