Medical cards U-turn: Humanity must inform new system

The Government’s decision to restore discretionary medical cards to around 15,000 people who lost them in the controversial eligibility review must get a cautious, qualified welcome. Experience shows it is best to wait until promises are delivered, and to see to what extent they are delivered, before this inevitable U-turn can be fully welcomed.

Though the episode was a very bruising experience for Government, it was even more so — and unnecessarily cruel — for individuals or families who lost support at a vital time in their lives. This reality was expressed with some force at last month’s elections when the Coalition parties were severely punished.

And it was all so unnecessary, because Government had been warned, time after time, that its policy was causing unintended and unnecessary hardship. For months on end, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his Government colleagues refused to acknowledge that the unavoidable review was cack-handed, badly targeted and that they would eventually have to review the review.