Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We support the Bill, but we really need to get down to brass tacks when it comes to medical cards. I do not think there is anybody in this building who will not have heard of cases, some of which are very sad, involving people who cannot avail of a medical card and are in really brutal circumstances. I have a limited amount of time so I will go directly to an example. One of these examples luckily got dealt with but I have said here many times - even yesterday to the Minister - that it is a failure of the system when someone comes to a politician in the first place. The case involved a single mother with a number of children who was not working and had been diagnosed with breast cancer due to a genetic mutation. She had the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, was on very aggressive chemotherapy, had to have a chemically induced menopause, was looking at the possibility of a double mastectomy and had been refused an emergency medical card. There was an awful lot of toing and froing when we dealt with the PCRS. We were told by one of the medical officers that her case was not enough of an emergency. I am not sure what an emergency would look like on that basis. In fairness, that issue was dealt with but that is not the way we need to do that sort of business.

Because it is in the public domain and I am talking about breast cancer, I would like to comment on what was brought up by Alison McCabe and others on RTÉ about post-mastectomy products. I think everyone will have heard about this. We are talking about women who have been through breast surgery. They are fearful of changes in the scheme. They are saying that it has been halved to €60. Could the Minister give some sort of update about that because it sounds outrageous? He might have updated information about it. That would need to be disseminated as soon as possible.

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