Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I forgot that but their tyres will be paid for. If one spends 11 years eating out, one will not know the cost of a restaurant meal. If one spends 11 years out of contact with the average person, one will not realise what it is like to feel the sense of insecurity experienced by the over 70s last week. Deputy O'Sullivan stated this group of people, who usually vote conservatively, has lost trust in the Government but they have lost more than that because they have lost their sense of security, which is paramount to them.

The Minister needs to reverse this decision and forget the waffle about the 5% because it is not the worth the hassle. People need this in black and white. They should be told the measure will not happen and they will be allowed to keep their medical cards. Let us move on to the cutbacks in education and disability services. The budget should be thrown on a bonfire and the Government should start again. It is a disaster and it will remain with the Government parties unless they decide to introduce a supplementary budget in order not to run with this one. People in their latter years who for once felt secure about access to the health service with their medical cards no longer feel that sense of security. The Minister should forget about the 5% and how much could be saved and allow them to retain their medical cards.

She should strive to provide medical cards for every person aged under 16 but she will baulk at that. The Government should have learned from the budget that it is a disaster on many fronts and it will not work. The Government parties need to get rid of it and introduce an alternative. The Government has probably run its course and we would all welcome a general election, particularly those in the Visitors Gallery, the over 70s, those involved in the disability sector and the teachers' unions.

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