David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In last year's budget, the Government announced that it would extend the medical card to seven and eight year olds and extend medical card eligibility for the over-70s by changing the eligibility criteria and the thresholds for entry. It also promised that all people with a terminal illness would have a medical card, and examining that issue was in the programme for Government. We passed a Bill on this matter in this House a number of weeks ago. There has still been no progress on these issues and my constituency office is inundated with people asking when this is going to happen. The Minister of State now has the floor and has the opportunity to provide clarity.

See this speech in context