John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

Today's Supreme Court judgment makes this a bad day for the Tánaiste and the Government of which she is a member. It is a good day, however, for the elderly people on whom the Tánaiste dumped with the Health (Amendment) Bill 2004. The judgment demonstrates that the Government is arrogant and does not listen. We told the Tánaiste repeatedly in the House that the legislation rode roughshod over the constitutional rights of what I called "the most vulnerable people in Irish society".

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