Rose Conway-Walsh urges halt to medical card revocations
Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh raised urgent concerns in the Dáil about medical cards being revoked during the pandemic and urged the Tánaiste to stop the practice. She said a pandemic-era moratorium had been in place last year but not this year, and argued that medical card thresholds are too low.
Call to halt medical card revocations
Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh told the Tánaiste that people are currently being contacted by the HSE to have their medical cards taken away and demanded that the practice stop immediately.
Pandemic moratorium and eligibility thresholds
She noted that special arrangements and extensions were put in place during last year of the pandemic but that no moratorium has been applied so far this year. She warned that medical card thresholds are "way, way too low."
Broader hardship concerns raised
The deputy linked the removals to wider financial pressure, saying people are being hounded both over their medical cards and by banks, and arguing that those issues need government attention.
Response from the Tánaiste
The Tánaiste acknowledged the issue, said reviews of medical card eligibility are a routine part of administration and that special pandemic arrangements had been introduced previously. The Tánaiste said the matter would be raised with the minister and that the minister would be asked to reply directly.
Requested follow-up
Rose Conway-Walsh asked for a stop to revocations and for the Tánaiste to inform the minister of the concerns raised in the Dáil, seeking a direct response and a review of how medical cards are being handled during the pandemic.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Tanaiste, I'm really concerned about the number of people that medical cards are being taken away from as we speak. We're at the height of a pandemic and people are being contacted by the HSE to take their medical cards away. Can you please stop this practice? I know last year there was a moratorium for while our extensions were given, but this year that hasn't happened to date and it needs to stop. We know already that the medical card thresholds are way, way too low. So between hounding people for medical cards and hounding people by the banks because we won't protect them. If you stopped your obsession with Sinn Fein, maybe you and your government could deal with some of these issues. Thank you, Deputy. Thaoniste. Thanks, Deputy. I'm more obsessed with Sinn Fein than you're obsessed with berating the government at every opportunity rather than being constructive, but on the issue that you raise, I'll certainly take that up with Minister Donnelly. Medical cards do need to be reviewed from time to time to confirm that people are still eligible for them. Special arrangements were brought in during the course of the pandemic and I'll certainly inform Minister Donnelly that you raise your concerns here in the Dáil and ask him to reply to you directly. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
