Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----can get an integrated package of services of care built around their particular needs. The Health Service Executive, on the basis of current legislation which states this is based on financial hardship, may allow discretion – I know families, good luck to them, who may well be very much in excess of the income limit, they might be very high earners - but no matter how far one extends the discretion, one will fall short of particular cases. Campaigners say we must allow a full medical card for persons with a particular need, who deserve to have it for life, but if one applies that logic, everybody who becomes a diabetic, or everyone who is asthmatic might be eligible for a card.

We need to have a discussion on this and I take into account the many cases Deputies have raised here. Nobody should be asked the question: "Is your child still Down syndrome or not?"

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