Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising those issues. Since 2015, medical cards are awarded without the need for a financial assessment to children under 18 years of age with a diagnosis of cancer. More broadly, the Government took a position whereby if there was a terminal prognosis of 24 months, the Government would facilitate the granting of a medical card. In other words, eligibility does not relate to a specific illness. There is neurological disease, which can shorten a person's life significantly, heart disease, COPD, stroke - there is a whole range of conditions that essentially mean a person's prognosis is terminal. The Government has taken the view that, based on the diagnosis of any particular condition, if the prognosis is 24 months or less, a medical card will issue.

On a more general level, we have dramatically expanded medical card coverage to try to cover the situation the Deputy has outlined, particularly in terms of the median income, which has been a very significant expansion of the card. Again, I would be interested to hear the details of some of the cases the Deputy has identified.

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