Kenny: I know of ill people who lost medical cards

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has revealed he personally knew of people with motor neurone disease who were unable to respond to the Government’s botched medical card review due to the severity of their condition.

Such people will be eligible to have cards restored, Mr Kenny told the Dáil as the scale of the review’s incompetence and harshness continued to emerge.

With 5,145 medical cards taken away because people did not reply to the HSE, Mr Kenny said such cases would be considered. “I know for instance of a couple of cases in which people with motor neurone disease were asked by the computer to respond. They were unable to speak and move and, therefore, could not respond,” he said.