Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our new colleague, Senator Bradley. It is lovely to see her again. We met several months ago when she made a presentation in Leinster House. She was very impressive on that day and I look forward to working with her. She will hit the ground running. She is very welcome. My office is on the same floor as her's so she will see a lot more of me.

An issue I have been raising for quite a while is medical cards for cancer patients and people with chronic diseases. People diagnosed with cancer should have automatic entitlement to a medical card until their treatment finishes. I have seen the pain that many people have gone through in terms of filling out forms and being refused and having to appeal. People have enough going on in their lives when they receive a diagnosis of a very serious illness. I will keep raising this issue because it needs to be looked at. I met the Irish Cancer Society during the week. It showed me a reduced form for people with certain illnesses but not every category is covered. The full form is 22 pages long. I would like support in this regard for people who have a diagnosis of cancer.