The Government has approved the method under which discretionary medical cards can be returned to persons with serious medical conditions who lost them in the now abandoned review process.

The decision made at Cabinet today covers cards that have been removed between July 1 2011 and May 31 2014. Around 15,000 previously withdrawn cards are expected to be restored under the new process.

The Cabinet has agreed a method for the return of cards by the HSE which, according to the Department of Health, does not involve changing the law.

The Government recently decided to suspend discretionary medical card reviews and introduce a new system under which for the first time medical cards can be granted on the basis of medical need as well as financial circumstances.

This new eligibility system is expected to be introduced later this year.

According to a statement from the Department of Health, the Government has accepted that the review of discretionary cards - which took place in the context of the centralisation of the medical card system - ' produced unintended consequences'.

"Much anecdotal evidence points to the fact that some persons with an acute medical condition, or a lifelong condition (including a disability) have lost their medical cards, an outcome that the Government could not stand over", the Department said.