On foot of the request of my colleagues in the Regional Independent Group, the rent-a-room relief was extended to people receiving social welfare who wish to rent out a spare room in their home. This benefits older people, who can now rent out a room without it impacting on their non-contributory State pension or on the spouse or adult dependant of a contributory pensioner. It also provides much-needed accommodation in the current housing crisis. However, this change has not been extended to the medical card assessments, as we requested. The HSE medical card section told me last week that, to date, it had not received clarification of when these proposed changes will officially come into effect.

It is pointless if this is not reflected in the medical card scheme. When will that happen?

I will have to follow up on that with the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. It is certainly our intention. It may require a change to primary legislation although I am not sure about that. That could be the reason for the delay. However, I will check it out. We certainly do want to encourage people, and particularly older people who often have a spare room or a number of spare rooms in their houses, to consider renting a room or providing accommodation for a student. We want to reassure them that they will not lose out with regard to their pension, fuel allowance or medical card. That is definitely the plan but I will check with the Minister as to why it has not been actioned.