Ms Michelle Murphy:

It is a political decision.

We need to provide universal access to health care, not universal medical cards for those over 70 regardless of their income. Given the pressures on our health services at the moment, I do not see how either children under six or the over-70s could be provided with such cards within the health service budget. With that €100 million, it would be possible to introduce refundable tax credits, which would benefit 113,000 low-income workers.

The chapter on housing in our socioeconomic review deals with NAMA and social housing. Approximately 1,900 properties have been deemed suitable. That is the issue. Those properties have to be evaluated and deemed suitable for social housing. Almost 300 more are being evaluated. Contracts have been signed on some and transactions are being completed. It is a time-consuming process. It is not that housing associations do not want to take up these properties, but they have to be evaluated and deemed suitable. It is then necessary to go through the process of signing a contract, completing the transaction and preparing the unit for release.