asked the Minister for Health if he will state the details of the means test applied in the case of applicants for medical service cards in County Wexford.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Wexford Medical Service Cards.
The determination of eligibility of applicants for medical service cards and the measures to be taken to determine such eligibility are matters for the relevant health authority.
I am not aware of the details of the means test applied in County Wexford.
Would the Minister say if there is any sort of uniformity in the means test applied throughout the whole country or if there is any general directive from his Department as to the means test that should be applied?
No, there is not, because one of the demands of the local authorities is that they should be as autonomous as possible and have regard to the resources of the rate-payers to defray the cost of the services carried out by the local authority. Therefore, there is no general directive. Every authority is an autonomous body in this matter having regard only to its responsibility to those who would be beneficiaries under the Act and those who pay for the services.
Are the present figures based on the results of the consultation in the past, of course, between, on the one hand, the Minister's Department and representatives of the famous or infamous body, the County Managers' Association?
There is nothing infamous about the members of the County Managers' Association coming together to consult with each other to secure a degree of uniformity, which Deputy Corish appears anxious to have. So far as the Department is concerned, I am not aware of any directive issued by the Department either in the past or in the present.
asked the Minister for Health if he will state the number of persons in County Wexford who held medical service cards on 31st December, 1956, and on 1st May, 1957.
The number of persons in County Wexford who held general medical service cards on the 31st December, 1956, was 11,586, and on the 31st March, 1957, the number was 12,545. These cards covered 33,962 and 34,268 persons respectively. The figures for the 1st May, 1957, are not available in my Department.