Vol. 505 No. 3
144 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if individuals who return to work after being in receipt of social welfare or unemployment benefit are entitled to their medical cards for three years after returning to work. [13488/99]
As part of budget 1996, the then Government announced that "persons who have been unemployed for at least one year shall retain their medical cards after entering employment." Persons on the live register for at least one year, who take up paid insurable employment were deemed to meet the criteria for retaining their medical cards for three years. The provision also covers participants on approved schemes applicable to the long-term unemployed, including back-to-work allowance, community employment, jobstart, job initiative, partnership and community group initiative and development courses such as workplace and vocational training opportunities scheme. The purpose of the budget provision was to remove disincentives to labour force participation by long-term unemployed persons. The implementation of the budget provision is a matter for health board chief executives, who have statutory responsibility for the administration of the medical card scheme.
