Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On foot of the request of my colleagues in the Regional Independent Group, the rent-a-room relief was extended to people receiving social welfare who wish to rent out a spare room in their home. This benefits older people who can now rent out a room without it impacting on their non-contributory State pension or the spouse or an adult dependant of a contributory pensioner. It also provides much-needed accommodation in the current housing crisis. However, this change has not been extended to the medical card assessments, as we requested. The HSE medical card section told me last week that, to date, it had not received clarification of when these proposed changes will officially come into effect.

It is pointless if this is not reflected in the medical card scheme. When will that happen?

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