Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also thank the Minister for staying on to take this Adjournment matter.

In the past number of months, taking a holistic view on it, our experience in dealing with the medical card primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, staff has improved. However, this case is an example of how matters were and how they should not be. I would not normally put a medical card application down as an Adjournment matter, but the applicant is suffering from considerable anxiety because of being moved from Billy to Jack and told one thing by one group and something else by another. Ultimately, the message from different staff within the PCRS system is conflicting. My office has been dealing with this application on a daily basis. My secretary would speak to one person and get one set of recommendations in terms of what is required, and having put the necessary paperwork together, then would be told that something else entirely is required.

There seems to be a breakdown in communications between the PCRS and the Revenue Commissioners, particularly when it comes to the Revenue website and for the self-employed who submit self-assessment. Apparently, when one makes a self-assessment, one is issued with a letter of acknowledgement which is considered a receipt but for some reason, the PCRS is of the view that a completely different documentation is required. Even the Revenue staff are baffled because such a document, for which we have been asked on behalf of these clients, does not exist.

Ultimately, I need somebody senior in the PCRS to take this file and resolve it for me. In my view - the financial statements are there to back it up - the person is entitled to a medical card but is being delayed because of bureaucratic non-engagement and, perhaps, through no fault of anybody, misunderstanding. It is merely one of these cases that is going on for months and it needs to be resolved.