Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am astonished by the amount of misinformation provided on medical cards over the past three weeks. The reality is that an additional 253,000 medical or GP cards were granted between 2011 and 31 August 2013. The number of medical cards reached more than 2,100,000 in June 2013. Prior to the election, Fianna Fáil Deputies were contacting their local HSE offices to get medical cards for constituents whose income was several hundred euro above the threshold. One such individual who came into my office had a medical card for the last several years despite a weekly income of €300 more than the qualifying threshold.