Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said the department of health will not look to withdraw any recently reinstated discretionary medical cards, and he intends to reform the discretionary medical card system in the near future.

Minsiter Varadkar said: "Anyone whose discretionary medical card has been re-instated in recent months need not worry. Their cards will be extended for as long as they need them."

A report, reported by RTE, on the system found that assigning medical cards based upon illness was impractical, due to the range of illnesses that might be under consideration.

The panel found that the current medical card system was functional but required work to deal with imperfections.