The Government is committed to extending medical cards to all children who qualify for the Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA), the Minister for Health has confirmed.

Around 33,000 children in Ireland are currently in receipt of the DCA. These children have already been deemed by the State to have a ‘disability so severe that the child requires care and attention substantially in excess of another child of the same age'.

Unlike the medical card, this allowance is not based on parents' means, but instead focuses on the child's lack of function of body or mind resulting from their condition.

Currently, children with life-long disabilities, life-limiting or life-threatening conditions that last for more than one year routinely qualify. While many of these have access to a medical card, a significant number - around 11,000 - do not.

Speaking in the Dail during a Sinn Fein private members motion on this issue, the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, said that the Government is committed to extending medical card provision to all children in receipt of the DCA.

He explained that as a result of this, around 11,000 children on the DCA who do not currently qualify for a medical card, will get one.

Furthermore, in the future, all 33,000 children who get the DCA will automatically qualify for a medical card.

"These children will not be subjected to the medical card means test in the future," he said.

There was cross-party support for the motion to amend the Health Act and ensure that all children qualifying for the DCA will automatically receive a full medical card. The motion had been brought forward by Sinn Fein TD and health spokesperson, Louise O'Reilly.

Minister Harris told the Dail that details of the funds needed for this would be contained in Budget 2017, which will be announced in October.

The move was welcomed by Our Children's Health, a campaign group, which has been fighting to ensure that all seriously ill children have access to medical cards.

The group was established in 2014 by Kevin Shortall and his brother-in-law Peter Fitzpatrick, after Mr Shortall had to ‘fight tooth and nail' for a medical card for his daughter who had been diagnosed with leukaemia.

The group recently met with Minister Harris and received a ‘strong personal commitment' from him that medical cards would be provided to all children in receipt of the DCA. Its members watched in the public gallery as Dail Eireann unanimously passed Deputy O'Reilly's motion.

"We would like to thank Deputy O'Reilly for raising the motion and the Minister for Health for readily accepting and supporting the motion. Having seen many false dawns and worked hard to build consensus on this issue in Leinster House, it was hugely encouraging to see that virtually all TD's, parties and Independents now support this vital change," the group commented.

It said that the only issue now is how quickly this change can come about.

"While we accept that the €20 million required needs to go through the estimates and budgetary process, there is no reason whatsoever that the legislation to amend the 1970 Health Act cannot be enacted before Budget Day, to take effect immediately after. These children and their parents have waited long enough," the group insisted.

For more information on Our Children's Health, click here