Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I have here the extract from the budget speech by former Minister for Finance, Mr. Charlie McCreevy, in 1999, two years before the free medical cards came in, in which he said the income guidelines used to establish medical card eligibility for persons aged 70 and over would be doubled over the next three years, beginning with an increase of one third in the coming year. That is being reduced. In addition to taking the automatic medical card, the Government is reversing what Mr. McCreevy did in 1999 and cutting the income guideline in half.

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