Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

They understood and believed that when Fianna Fáil decided to provide universal health care to the over 70s it was based on some principle. What they did not realise is that the only principle to which Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats espoused in 2001 was how to get elected as rapidly as possible and how to fool as many people as possible. There was no principled commitment to universal health care, they were simply using and manipulating the elderly for political gain.

Just as easily, last week, they decided to throw the elderly aside. I do not believe that is an appropriate way to treat people. If one extends the right to universal health care in circumstances in which they rely on it for their lives, one cannot simply withdraw it arbitrarily. The chaos the Government has created has resulted in three versions of the scheme being announced over the past week. As Fianna Fáil Deputies gathered in panic, realising the impact of what they had done and moaned on the national airwaves, the Government sought to re-examine the decision.

The decision of today is just as flawed as those earlier decisions. To suggest that an individual with €36,500 gross is among the super rich is such a warped view of income as to defy understanding. The proposals announced today are flawed and will give rise to a need for further clarification and will create further difficulties. For example, what is the position for a couple in their 70s with an income of €1,200 per week when one of them dies? The widow or widower may be left with a small additional leftover occupational pension from the deceased spouse as well as his or her own pension. Will such a person, with perhaps €800 gross per week, find that the State deprives him or her of the medical card as a consequence of the death of the spouse?

What about the other benefits that accrue to those with the medical card? Deputy Reilly referred to the Government policy of allowing elderly people to remain in their homes and experience independent living. That requires the support of visits from community nurses. Will we deprive individuals of that right when we take the medical card away?

What is the situation of those who have been given cards with no expiration date? Are they supposed to hand back their cards? Is there to be a new police service operating out of the Department of Health and Children or the HSE, visiting the elderly and demanding the return of cards given to them for the entirety of their lives, as perviously issued based on the Government's policy? It is extraordinary that the Government has sought to deal with the elderly in this way.

Deputy McDaid told us that this is an issue the Government pursued to renegotiate the deal done with the doctors. The Government could have attempted to consult the doctors any time over the past seven years without frightening the elderly and using them as weapons in an industrial relations bargaining process. It is a disgraceful and disgusting way to treat people.

Tomorrow evening there will be an opportunity for Members opposite, who have been vocal in their protests about this policy and who sought to reassure their constituents, to vote in favour of the Fine Gael motion. Will they have the courage to vote the way they are talking? Will we see members of Fianna Fáil huddled together like horrified hobbits holding hands going up the stairwell and turning to the left to vote against this Fine Gael motion, or will they have the courage to vote with their feet?

Will we see the Green Party and hear more hot air from it, contributing to the increase in climate change?

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