Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Mulvany is not saying there is not a link. On the demographic pressures, which Deputy Durkan brought up, it always seems to be a surprise that people are living longer. The inference is they are costing us a load of money and it is all their fault when we are the ones who kept them alive. Has someone done a quantitative analysis on this? Take the example of a 65 year old who is given more tablets, which stop the person ending up in hospital as an inpatient or in acute care. It is better to have people alive at home on tablets than occupying an acute bed. Has an analysis been done on the price of keeping people alive over 70? Have we done those sums? What is the Exchequer value of them? It seems to be thrown out easily that they are costing a fortune.