Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The tragedy is that making ends meet is not the only worry facing older people. They have been waiting for proper standards of policing of nursing home care and other care facilities. They have been waiting to see the high chance of picking up infections in hospitals addressed. They continue to wait. They have seen home care packages axed because the bureaucracy in the HSE ran out of money. They are part of the 200,000 unrecognised people waiting to see a consultant for the first time, waiting to join the queue of 41,000 for a medical procedure. This budget is letting old people down at a time when major increases in health budgets were committed to by the taxpayer. The results that would make a difference to their lifestyle have not been delivered.

The conversion of the Minister to changing stamp duty is something I must welcome. I argued for it before and during the election. I tabled an amendment in June to implement it. Who opposed it on every occasion?

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