Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We have to keep these things under constant review, particularly as part of the Estimates process. I can confirm that there has been an increase in the number of medical cards since the 2019 figures. Therefore, the numbers are going up rather than being suppressed because of inflation, for example. There has been a 1.4% increase in medical cards and a 6.6% increase in GP cards compared with 2019. As the Deputy will be aware, we are hopefully in the final few weeks of negotiation with the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, on an additional 400,000 to 500,000 GP cards and that is going to make a big difference. It will the first time in the history of the State that half the population will now have full State-funded access to general practice. It is a really important move. Obviously, we have listened very carefully to the GPs and are putting in substantial increases in financial supports for them as part of that, while being highly cognisant that GPs are already under a lot of pressure.

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