Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 91: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the number of medical cards issued at 30 September 2004 and at the latest date for which figures are available; the reason the number of medical card holders continues to decline having regard to the pledge in An Agreed Programme for Government to extend eligibility to bring in another 200,000 persons and the commitment given on the publication of the Estimates for 2005 that 30,000 additional medical cards would be issued from 1 January 2005; the number of the promised 30,000 new medical cards that have been issued since 1 January 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9401/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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In September 2004, the number of current medical cards in circulation was 768,895 providing services for 1,151,106 persons or 29.39% of the population of 3,917,203, from the 2002 census. In March 2005, there were 768,316 current cards providing services for 1,144,578 persons or 28.3% of the population of 4,043,800, the official estimate of population at September 2004, which represents a net increase of 1,963 medical cards since February 2005.

Variations in medical card coverage can be attributed to the continued economic success of the country and also to results of the cleansing of medical card databases during 2003 and 2004, in which approximately 104,000 medical card records were removed. Many of the deletions from the database would have been due to normal reviews but a number would have been duplicate or expired records. Regular periodic reviews of eligibility are undertaken by the Health Service Executive to ensure that its medical card databases are accurate.

The implications of my decision to extend medical card coverage, as announced in November, will become apparent as the year progresses. New income guidelines, as agreed by the chief officers of the Health Service Executive, are being used by the local area offices for the determination of eligibility to an additional 30,000 full eligibility medical cards since January 2005. The additional 200,000 doctor visit cards will be introduced progressively from April 2005, once administrative arrangements are in place.