Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. Many of us who do our day-to-day work in constituency offices receive queries concerning medical cards. One area of continuing confusion is the notional rate of interest that is applied to applicants' savings. I am referring to the full medical card. When I tried to discover how the rate is applied, I found the situation was confused. The Department and the HSE did not seem to know themselves. I was given a number of different rates and was also told there was no rate.

I have tabled this Adjournment matter in order to clarify the matter. I hope the Minister of State can explain how the nominal interest rate is calculated by the HSE on savings as part of the means test for medical card applicants. The net rate for couples is very low, so I would like to hear what the Minister of State has to say about the matter.