Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

Over the past two and half to three years we have been promised an extension of the medical card system. The most recent one, for which we have been waiting two and a half years, is the extension of the doctor-only medical card. It is shameful in the extreme. I ask the Leader to request the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, to exempt people who have been diagnosed as being terminally ill from a means test for a medical card as a matter of urgency. It is shameful that spouses and family members must go through the application process, be means tested and be told that their means exceed the limit and then, only at the discretion of the appeals officers, be granted the medical card. I ask the Leader to immediately ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children to use her discretion in exempting people who have been classified as terminally ill, especially those suffering from cancer, from a means test.