Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In relation to the Deputy's first point, I myself have the card and I am glad to hear Deputy Ó Cuív appreciates and acknowledges the role that it can play.

I will take on board the point the Deputy made about the writing on it and I will pass it on to my colleagues who are working on it. As the Deputy will be aware, the people who are making the greatest use of it at present tend to be our older citizens. They are accessing it either for free travel or to access payments to which they are entitled. I am not aware of the issue having been raised to date but it is a fair point.

On the zealot approach that Deputy Ó Cuív talked about, we have a challenge here. We want to get to a point where this card is used by citizens to access services because I believe the issue of ensuring that we are providing valuable services to those who are meant to get them will become more important in the future.

I have my own experience in this area. We expect public services and staff involved in dealing with this issue on the front line to try to accommodate people and, indeed, they do so.

If people have particular issues, we ask them to ensure that they are dealt with sensitively and respectfully. It seems that the Deputy had such an experience in terms of the particular matter with which he dealt.

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