Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, the Minister of State and the officials. Obviously, this is one of the times when we get to see the chickens coming home to roost. It is very sobering to hear that the financial state we are in means we cannot actually do this, as has been explained. Our budgetary constraints mean that we are under a great deal of pressure across many headings in the Department of Health. It is one of the toughest portfolios in this regard because it is demand-led. We want to look after people who are sick, dying or disabled.

The problem has been described as having been going on for quite some time. Dr. McLoughlin said he has been in his position for just a few months. Can anybody else tell us why the issue of equality was not addressed when there was money in the country, as part of the operation of this scheme by the Department of Health? It seems that money was found for everything else at some stage - I do not suggest that was right either - but this was not funded. What was the rationale that allowed this to be ignored for so long? The Equal Status Act came into being when there was money in the country.

I am not quite clear on the interaction of the mobility allowance. A number of my constituents who have disability issues are having difficulty getting to medical appointments. A lot of begging and pleading has to be done before they are transported to essential medical appointments. Many of the people in question live in rural areas. I applaud the rural transport scheme and all the other initiatives. They work well for people in certain demographics and certain circumstances. It is difficult to understand why people with disabilities who cannot get to medical appointments have to ask Deputies to make representations for them. I do not know why we do not have a better system. I know there have been cutbacks in the ambulance transport service. I am sure that can be done more readily in some areas than in others. People with disabilities who are in particular hardship are stressed because they do not know how they can make their appointments. I wonder about the link between the two schemes. It should be pretty essential. If it is possible to accommodate people on the rural transport scheme when they are collecting their pensions every week, why can they not be brought to their medical appointments?

Two Deputies raised the possibility of raising more taxes. We have probably gone past that point now. In all fairness, the property tax is being introduced. People are being pinched in every direction. Many of the rich people we hear about have big houses with mortgages in negative equity. They are just as pressed as anyone else. I do not know of many sectors in our society that are not pressed. There is a tendency for one sector of pressurised people to look to another sector of people to see who has it easier and who can be curtailed further when more cuts come around. The idea that people are not paying enough through direct or indirect taxes, which is constantly repeated, is a daft one. I would like to know who these wealthy people are, for example, in my own town. It needs to be analysed. I do not know who they are. Maybe people are referring to those with the trappings of wealth. If so, I suggest that those trappings could be causing a lot more misery than happiness at the moment.