Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully support the motion. It is laudable that the Minister has accepted it. It is very welcome that he has because it makes perfect sense and there is no reason for any Government to reject it. Perhaps it is a sign of new politics because if this motion had come before the House prior to February of this year, it would have been rejected out of hand by the previous Government and it would have been voted down. The fact that 11,000 children will now automatically get a medical card is very welcome. It is a great relief to the families of those children who have a lot to contend with and many difficulties in their way. The State should not compound the difficulties such families have to deal with and it will be a great relief to them for their children to automatically get a medical card. In many cases the parents are not looking for a medical card for themselves but in order to have their child’s needs looked after. Parents put their own lives on hold to ensure their child can have the best life possible and anything the State can do to facilitate that must be welcomed.

It is a pity we must wait for legislation, as Deputy Kelly outlined. The primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, could start to roll out the process now or the Government could bring legislation if it is necessary through the Houses as a matter of urgency given that it was a commitment in the programme for Government. I do not imagine the legislation would need to be complicated in order to bring about the desired result. Surely it could have been prepared and made ready in the ten weeks in which the Government has been in place.

The only problem I had with the motion was the proposal that the domiciliary care assessment would be used as a model for medical card assessment. I am pleased the Government has not accepted that aspect of the motion because it would have led to its own difficulties. In the previous Dáil, Private Members’ motions were tabled about the assessment process for domiciliary care allowance and the difficulties parents had accessing that allowance in the first place.

When one has been around this House for a long time, one might become a bit cynical. I am afraid the domiciliary care application process might become more difficult in the future. I hope that is not the case but I fear that it might, given that getting it will in future automatically mean the family will be entitled to carer’s allowance and a medical card. I hope that does not happen and that further motions on the issue are not tabled in the future on difficulties in getting the domiciliary care allowance itself.

Changes should be made to tweak the medical card application process and make it more responsive to people’s needs. All Members have people come to see them in their constituency offices who are applying for a medical card. We know right well they will not pass the means test, yet they have to go through the process even though they have medical conditions that would justify getting a medical card. They must go the entire way through the means assessment process and fail it in order to get to the point where their medical condition is assessed. It would be a worthwhile change if the system allowed for the means test to be bypassed so that people could go straight to having their medical needs assessed.

Much of the discretion has been removed from the PCRS. In recent weeks, I am aware of a constituent who was refused a medical card because he was 19 cent over the limit on the means test assessment. In recent years if someone was up to €20 over the limit, he or she would have still been awarded a medical card. It is a disgrace that someone would be refused a medical card for the sake of being 19 cent over the limit. It might be a blip in the system but it happened and that should not continue.

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