In the context of the Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Act 2020, what is the status of the proposal to extend access to medical cards and make them available to all those who are terminally ill and have a prognosis of up to 24 months? This is an important issue for many in my constituency who have been given a terminal prognosis. I am concerned about the impact of any delay in implementing this extension as I am aware of people who are terminally ill but have been turned down for a medical card as they do not fit the current criteria. Will the Minister advise the HSE to provide medical cards on a discretionary basis in the interim?

I thank the Deputy for raising the very important issue of extending the access to medical cards for the terminally ill. On 9 February, the Cabinet approved an interim measure which would see an extension to the current end-of-life medical card criteria whereby people who have been certified by their treating consultant as having a prognosis of up to 24 months will be awarded a medical card. That is an extension from the previous 12-month criteria. The measure is being introduced on an administrative basis which will enable officials in the Department of Health to continue their work programme to examine the legislative options to underpin the expansion of medical cards to terminally ill patients, as recommended by the HSE's clinical advisory group and endorsed by the Government last November. In essence, the Government wants to do this. If the Deputy has particular cases, maybe he can forward them to us to illustrate what is happening on the ground. In my view, there has to be a flexible discretionary approach to this and that is what should happen.