James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that the Senator has raised issues in this regard.

Significant latitude was shown over the years, in the case of car loans and other loans, when the country was awash with money. We do not have the money now. We have 1.8 million people on medical cards and another 120,000 or more on GP cards. We want everybody in this country to have free GP care and we are moving towards that. However, there was no consistency across the country with regard to all the allowances allowed in the past. I will revisit the issue with the Senator, but as things stand the GMS is a demand-led scheme and the latitude shown in previous years is no longer open to us because we do not have the money.