Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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496. To ask the Minister for Health if Irish citizens working in the north of Ireland and living in the south of Ireland are entitled to a medical card as a frontline worker; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38869/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Eligibility for a Medical Card is primarily based on a financial assessment which is conducted by the HSE in accordance with the Health Act 1970 (as amended). The HSE assesses each medical card application on a qualifying financial threshold. This is the amount of money that an individual can earn a week and still qualify for a card. It is specific to the individual’s own financial circumstances.

The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement concluded between the EU and the UK includes provisions relating to social security and health rights for certain categories of persons, including frontier workers. Social security and healthcare rights are also provided for by the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement.

Under the social security provisions of the EU UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA), a frontier worker working and paying social insurance in the UK/Northern Ireland, is eligible for a non-means tested medical card if they are ordinarily resident in Ireland and return to this state daily or at least once a week.