Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In correspondence to me, the Minister for Health advised that he intended to publish the health (amendment) (No. 2) Bill in the last session but that did not happen. For those who are not aware, this gives effect to the budget commitment to extend an automatic medical card to those children in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance.

This is long overdue. My constituency office, and I imagine the constituency offices of many Deputies, has been inundated with desperate parents wanting to know when they will be able to access a medical card for their children who have been deemed to have a severe or serious disability. According to the legislative programme, the PLS has yet to be determined. I have asked the Taoiseach this several times: when will these people see their medical cards?

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