Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

Will the Taoiseach advise if there has been a change of approach with regard to medical cards? Over the last while, a significant number of people have come to me, especially older women who have had medical cards for a long time and whose cards are now suddenly being taken away from them. Has there been a change of approach? Figures released to me show an increase in the number of people who are applying for medical cards but a decrease in the number of medical cards being issued. As well as medical cards, a lot of people have come to me who have not been given a discretionary medical card. We see in the numbers there has been a halving in the number of discretionary medical cards issued in the last number of years. I am trying to get to the bottom of this. Has there been a change of approach? If the Taoiseach is not aware of a change of approach, will he find out if there has been a change of approach by the Department?

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