when was the medical card introduced in ireland
Medical card Medical cards were introduced by Part III of the Health Act 1953,[1] passed by the then Fianna Fáil government after the failure of the previous inter-party government's somewhat more ambitious Mother and Child Scheme. It was described as a "white card replacing the red ticket", the latter being a proof of pauperism required under the Irish poor laws for access to the public dispensary. The medical card scheme was administered by county councils until the newly created Health Boards took over in 1970; these in turn were replaced by the HSE in 2005.[2][3]