Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her response and appreciate, in particular, the last nugget of information which obviously is pertinent. I commend the Minister and the Minister of State, given that, if I am not mistaken, this is the first time in seven years that the Department of Health's budget will actually be increased. It is also welcome that discretionary medical cards will not be reviewed for individuals who are terminally ill. That is a far more humanitarian way of approaching these issues. The last thing a family member wants when coping with potential grief is to have to deal with reams of paperwork from the Department of Health.

Given the difficulties with the medical card system in recent years, culminating in the report published in November 2014, I am pleased that we have seen some movement on the issue. However, a number of such cases have come through my office in recent months. While I am positively disposed to what the Minister of State said, the information with which I have been provided somewhat belies what has happened in individual cases. I appreciate, however, that what has happened in individual cases is not the best way of ascertaining how the whole system operates. Nonetheless, more could be done and I would like to see the Minister of State undertaking a review of the process in the coming months. That would give us an opportunity to debate the matter which I am sure Ppposition health spokespersons would welcome.

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