Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I wish to raise with the Taoiseach a particular set of decisions made in the budget relating to increases in a number of health charges. The charge for attending an accident and emergency department in a hospital was raised in the budget to €100, bringing it now to almost seven times what it cost in 1997, approximately €15. The charge for an overnight stay in a hospital has been raised to €75, three times what it cost in 1997. The threshold for the drug refund scheme has been increased to €100, over four times its cost in 1997. By any standards, these are very substantial increases in taxation on illness because the only people eligible to pay these taxes are those who are sick, who need to get into hospital or who need drugs.

I wish to raise in particular the impact of those charges on low-income families. I want the Taoiseach to consider the case of a working family, a couple with two children, with a family income of €25,000 per year. The Taoiseach's Government considers this family to be too well-off to have a medical card so they would be liable to pay the accident and emergency charge if a family member had to go to hospital. What does that family do in the middle of the night if a child gets sick, they cannot get a doctor and they do not have the €100 to bring the child to the accident and emergency department? What would be the Taoiseach's advice to that family?

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