I do not know why they are not available. Obviously, we have had arguments and discussions in the House about the medical card system in the past couple of months. The Deputy is aware that for many years the system for allocating medical cards was based on income and that discretion applied where undue hardship was affecting the circumstances of any individual. Discretion was exercised, depending on one's circumstances. The Minister for Health has put in place a clinical panel to examine how medical cards might be given to people based on medical circumstances, with conditions attached. I do not know why the papers to which the Ombudsman referred are not available. The law never changed all along in using income as a basis for the allocation of medical cards and in respect of the system under which a medical card could be granted to an applicant whose income was over the limit in circumstances of undue hardship. I will have the matter checked for the Deputy, but I cannot answer his question. I do not know why the papers are not available. There has been no change in this regard since the 1970s, which is why we are moving towards an examination of the issue by a clinical panel of experienced personnel.

On the other matter mentioned, it is a serious issue. The matter is being dealt with seriously by the Minister for Health. Obviously, he wants to deal with it quickly.

The Taoiseach has stated this is a serious issue and that it is being dealt with seriously by the Minister for Health.

Yes.

He is the person who appointed the head of a private consultancy firm that advocates the privatisation of health services as chairman of a public health body. Therefore, I do not believe the Taoiseach's answer is adequate, nor do I believe the answer on the missing files is adequate. The Ombudsman has said that what happened to the files is something his office has not been able to establish. All he knows is that they are no longer available. He has stated his office cannot cast any light on where the files are and what happened to them and that they are simply no longer available. His office does not know when, why or how they went missing.

The change in the Government's attitude in the days before the election was indicative of contrition. Labour Party and Fine Gael Ministers talked about how they were getting it in the neck over how the Government was not dealing with the issue of medical cards properly. That was on 23 May, a long time ago. Despite this, the Taoiseach is not aware that the very files in which some of the decisions are supposed to have been recorded have gone missing. This is not good enough. Every Member of the Oireachtas knows how individuals, including children with unchangeable medical conditions and children with terminal illnesses, have had their medical cards taken from them. What happened to the contrition shown on 21 and 22 May? What we now have is a Government that is moving from one calamity to another. I note that the Taoiseach was not able to give me an adequate answer in this Chamber on either of my questions, one being on the appointment of the head of a private health consultancy as chairman of a public health body and the other being on medical cards.

The Deputy does not have a monopoly of contrition, compassion or humanity. That remark is beneath him, or perhaps it is not. How am I supposed to know the Ombudsman wrote to the Deputy?

He did not write to me; the matter was raised at the committee.

I do not know every issue the Ombudsman has raised, nor do I have information on the lack of material he is to receive, but I would be happy to follow through on this issue. Files on individual medical cards should not be lost, as I am sure they are not. I do not understand why they are not available to the Ombudsman who has an independent role and authority. I hope it is not a case of files having disappeared and it not being possible to retrieve them and make them available to an independent authority such as an ombudsman, as one would expect, when he has to make a decision on a legitimate case. We will find out the answer. The Deputy is telling me I am supposed to know all of these details.

The Taoiseach said he was conducting a review.

I am telling the Deputy candidly and truthfully that I do not know the answer to the question, but I will find out. I have said the matter of the appointment to which the Deputy referred is serious and it is being treated seriously by the Minister for Health who will make his view known very shortly.

The fox minding the chickens.