The Government will extend access to medical cards for people with a terminal illness from those who have one year to live to those with two years to live.

The proposal has been brought to Cabinet by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

Last year he voted for a bill to legalise the assisted suicide of terminally ill patients with no time limits.

This means someone could be deemed eligible for assisted suicide, but not eligible for a medical card.

At present, about 1,800 people with a terminal illness have medical cards on compassionate grounds. This would increase to about 3,600 under the new Government plan.

The scheme is expected to assist people with a number of different conditions including motor neurone disease, neurological disease, advanced cancer and heart failure.