Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Today is Human Rights Day. Women's Aid is using it to highlight all the women who have been murdered by their partners and children who have been killed as a result of domestic violence. One of the first motions I moved in this House was on domestic violence and we had a very good debate and cross-party support. The time has come again to have another debate on it. Senator Cahill has called for a debate on domestic violence and I second her call for that debate.

Yesterday, on the Order of Business, Senator Mooney raised an issue on the medical card office and its workings. He subsequently moved an amendment to the Order of Business and while I could not support his proposed amendment - we all know Ministers cannot come to the House at the drop of a hat - I support what he said and I call for a reasonable debate on the medical card office. It is outrageous that anyone who has given documents to the PCRS office and wants them back has to make a freedom of information request. It is ridiculous. I am aware of a man who collated all his documents for the PCRS office. It took him four weeks to gather all the information. He needed bank statements. He had to write to England about a British pension he was receiving because proof of it going into his bank account was not sufficient and he had to get written confirmation from Newcastle upon Tyne. He then sent the documents to the PCRS office in an envelope, which it supplied. When he phoned the office, there was no record of his documents and nobody could tell him where they were gone. He was asked to send them again. It is absolutely ridiculous. Either we have the worst postal system in this country, which is responsible for delivering to the PCRS office, or the PCRS office is not keeping an eye on all this information and is not collating it properly. I request a debate on the workings of the PCRS office as soon as the Leader can get a Minister here to do so.