Prevention is so much better than the cure

It should come as no surprise to anybody to learn that politics is a very cruel and callous business.

This week, Health Minister James Reilly was forced to reverse course on the medical card issue.

The proposal to issue medical cards on the basis of medical need has been shelved and over 15,000 of the medical cards that were removed on the back of a review process over the past three years are now due to be returned.