Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

It is arbitrary to state 95% of people over 70 will have free medical cards while 5% will not. This is a funny way of doing business at the best of times. Our amendment seeks to ensure that we get it right. If we notice that many people over 70 are losing their medical cards at a quite dramatic rate and it is indicated that the Department's figures could be wrong, there will be a need to adjust the figures pretty rapidly so we will not remove the medical card from people from whom it was never intended to remove it. We want coverage of 100% but the Minister of State is happy with 95%. However, the percentage could decrease to 90% or 93% and the way of adjusting for this is to have the HSE provide us with the relevant information in this regard rapidly so we can make rapid adjustments, if necessary.