Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

To follow up on what Senator O'Donovan said about the west Cork case, it is important to acknowledge that it was the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice and Equality who released the papers to the solicitors for the person whom the French authorities were attempting to extradite. It was an important decision and, in fairness to everybody, it was important that this information was made available. The right decision was taken.

Senator Jillian van Turnhout and I went to Finglas on Friday with some other Members of the Oireachtas. We were trying to deal with the issue of finding a solution to the delays in issuing medical cards. As of 1 March last, over 1,734,000 medical cards have been issued. Another 124,000 people have general practitioner, GP, cards. Approximately 40% of the population will have a GP or medical card by the end of 2012. It is important to be aware of the volume of work being done by the people in the HSE who are dealing with this matter. Over 338,000 medical cards were issued between 1 July 2011 and 1 January 2012. That is a huge number.

I agree that the reorganisation of the system was carried out in too short a time period. Previously, there were 100 locations issuing medical cards and that operation was brought into a single location. Perhaps it might have been better if it had been streamlined in a more co-ordinated manner over the last six months. However, that is the current position. A total of 31,000 medical card applications are outstanding. Those applications were lodged prior to December 2011 and every effort is being made to have them resolved by the end of April next. Therefore, everybody who applied for a medical card prior to last December will have their medical card by the end of April.

One of the issues that arose was the problem of incomplete applications. Approximately 25,000 applications on hand are incomplete. In other words, all the necessary information has not been supplied. I realise there was an issue with information being misfiled but that is being dealt with. A serious effort is being made in this area. The concerns that were raised in the House have been taken on board and many matters are being fast-tracked. However, I believe we should revisit this matter in four weeks, to ensure that the commitments we were given in Finglas last Friday are being fulfilled and that there is no further downturn in the number of medical cards issued over the next four weeks. I ask the Leader to put it on the agenda for four weeks hence.