Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I refer to page 57 of the programme for Government, which deals with medical cards. The Taoiseach must listen to and understand what I have to say. The parents of a child who is waiting for a prosthesis have been refused a medical card. A man who has been on a waiting list for a kidney transplant for three years was refused a medical card. A person suffering from cancer is waiting for a medical card.

I follow this issue very closely and I make this point with the utmost respect, as do other Members who are tuned into the issue of medical cards. Within the past 25 days, for some reason or another, the criteria of the medical deciding officers in the PCRS unit have changed. They have stopped issuing medical cards on discretionary grounds. Why has this happened? There are far more experienced Members in the House, such as Deputy Ferris, who have been here a lot longer than me.

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