Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Lynch. She is right; there is no legislative obstacle to expanding the scope of the long-term illness scheme. There is probably no policy obstacle either. The prepared response says there are no plans to extend it, and I hope that is just for the moment. The Senator is right that with a bit of political will and pushing and presenting the case for inclusion of conditions like IBD in the way the Senator has, which makes sense given how debilitating it is, how costly it can be and the impact it has on people's lives, surely it is time for review. Does that potentially open it up for a whole range of other diseases to be included? I do not know, but it is worth pursuing further. At the moment there are no plans but, as we know, in politics things can change, and if we keep the pressure on, it is worth pursuing.

We have done great things in terms of increasing access to medical cards and GP visit cards. Sláintecare is slowly edging towards achieving a lot of its goals. Expanding the scheme does seem it would be worth pursuing, if nothing else because the range was defined back in the seventies. I appreciate Senator Lynch raising the matter today.