With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to reply to Questions Nos. 1, and 2 together.
The circular referred to by the Deputy was issued before the medical card system was introduced under the general medical services regulations, 1954, and paragraph 3 was, consequently, drafted as referring to all applicants for maternity cash grants. Since the introduction in 1954 of the medical card system, eligibility for the general medical services, which carries with it entitlement to maternity cash grants, is based primarily on inclusion in the general medical services register. If, therefore, a woman's name is correctly included in that register, she is entitled to a maternity cash grant. Health authorities are, however, quite entitled—and indeed have the duty—to delete from the general medical services register at any time the names of persons who have, through betterment of their financial situation or otherwise, become ineligible for inclusion. A health authority may thus, if it desires, make fresh enquiries at the time of application for a maternity cash grant into the circumstances of any particular applicant, even if the person concerned is covered by a medical card, but there is no obligation on them to do so in the absence of grounds for believing that the applicant has ceased to be eligible for free general medical services.
I am arranging to have a copy of the circular placed in the Library for the convenience of Deputies.