Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The very least he could do this morning for people who are suffering pain as a result of the budget is to express some degree of remorse, regret and apology to them.

Second, I asked a specific question about elderly people who had health insurance, but who understandably gave it up when they got medical cards in the expectation that they would continue to have them. The Government is now taking the medical card off them and leaving them marooned in a situation where they will now have no medical card and no health insurance.

I checked this morning with the VHI and I am told that a pensioner in those circumstances will have to wait ten years for cover for a pre-existing condition and two years for cover for a new condition. What answer can the Taoiseach give to a person aged 75 or 76 from whom he is taking the medical card, who has stopped paying health insurance? What comfort can he offer to them this morning about their health cover because people are worried and are ringing my office and I am sure other offices also?

Third, if the Taoiseach is so convinced the people of this country accept his budget, will he put it to the test? Will the Taoiseach move the writ for the by-election that is due in Dublin South and put his budget to the test of the people of that constituency at least?

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