Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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274. To ask the Minister for Health the total number of medical cards currently in circulation; the extent to which these numbers have fluctuated over the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40309/13]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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At 1st September 2013, 1,987,423 people have free access to GP services under the GMS Scheme which equates to over 43% of the national population. Of these, 1,863,062 people hold medical cards, 53,888 of which are discretionary. This equates to 40.5% of the national population.

Medical cards statistics over the previous five years are outlined below.