331 Deputy Ulick Burke asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of persons in Galway city and county possessing medical cards for each of the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and to date in 2010; if she will provide the breakdown of these between full medical card, GP visit cards and the over 70s medical cards; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39416/10]

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has the operational and funding responsibility for the medical card benefit. It collates medical card data by county, age and gender. Therefore, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to address this matter and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.