Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

The improved income thresholds announced by the Taoiseach and Minister for Health and Children will mean 95% of those aged over 70 years will continue to have a medical card. For the small minority who will no longer be eligible, discretion will be used to take account of difficult personal circumstances. Already, 70,000 medical cards have been issued on these grounds.

There is no doubt given the serious state of the country's finances that the Government was required to make tough decisions which would have been unthinkable even one year ago. For this reason, it made the difficult decision not to give very wealthy people aged over 70 a medical card. The Fianna Fáil Party and Government have a strong record of supporting the elderly. A few years ago, hardly any older persons received nursing or therapy care at home because such care was confined to hospitals. Currently, 10,000 older people benefit from home care packages and 2,500 additional places have been provided in day and respite centres in the past three years. A sum of €55 million has also been provided for the fair deal scheme.

We can be proud that life expectancy in Ireland has increased by four years since 1996. This rate of progress is unmatched in any other European Union country. I share the concern about the anxiety which was needlessly caused to older people in the past week. There is no doubt that the Taoiseach and Minister for Health and Children worked hard over the weekend to find a solution to the problem.

We understand the difficulty of respecting the broad budgetary parameters while taking on board the depth of feeling expressed to us by elderly people and their families in the past week. The work on a new single capitation rate paid to general practitioners for people aged over 70 years who hold a medical card is important. It was difficult for older people to understand the reason a GP would receive €161 per annum for one person and €640 for another person in the same age group.

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