Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputy Seymour Crawford.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I do not understand from where this came. A brave decision was made to recognise those over 70 who contributed to the development of this State, to the development of the services we have and to the development of the standard of living to which Deputy Blaney refers, by giving them a medical card which they prized very much. It was very important to them. Yet, in the recent budget, the Government decided to take it away. Government members saw the reaction of elderly people, even though they thought those people were a soft touch. However, they were not a soft touch.

People who retire are labelled, although they have vast experience of life. They come from all professions and all levels of society. They are doctors, architects, managers, factory workers, carpenters, builders, educators and trainers, yet they are just labelled as retired. The Government decided to attack the service given to them, one that is very important to elderly people. As people get older, they experience disproportionate levels of health problems compared to the general population. Therefore, the medical card is very important to them. The Government witnessed the emotive reaction of people who saw that something they cherished very much was being taken away from them.

Another group that was forgotten included those who expected to obtain a medical card on reaching 70 years of age. These people will no longer receive the card and I do not understand how a decision like that could be made from a human point of view. I do not understand how the Government decided to do this from a political point of view either. Anybody with any knowledge of politics would know that to attack a vulnerable group would be extremely sensitive and that there would be a reaction. The Government thought these people were insignificant. It felt it was taking the easy option by withdrawing services from the elderly, as opposed to trying to achieve savings in the capitation rate for GPs, but that has been flushed out.

Since the Government unilaterally announced the withdrawal of the automatic entitlement to a medical card for those over 70, there has been confusion about the criteria used to determine those who will retain their medical card and those who will not retain it. We are told that most people will retain it, but we just do not know how many people will do so. The Government did not know how many people would be entitled to the medical card when it was introduced in the first place. Now there is absolute confusion about how many people will retain the medical card. It is clear that the Government put no thought into the withdrawal of the medical card. It made it up as it went along. The unprecedented show of public outrage, to which I have already referred, forced the Government into a climbdown from the budget day decision.

Under the terms of the Bill we are discussing, the gross weekly income threshold for medical cards for people over the age of 70 is €700 per week for a single person and €1,400 for a couple. From next January, people who turn 70 but do not have a medical card at present will have to undergo what the Department of Health and Children describes as a "simplified means test" to establish whether their income exceeds the €700 limit. I would love to know how "simplified means test" is defined. Anybody over the age of 70 who has a net income of more than €595 in the case of a single person, or €1,135 in the case of a couple, will not be entitled to a medical card. These figures, which do not include PRSI, show that contrary to the Minister for Finance's suggestion, people who are not millionaires will lose their medical cards. Many ordinary people who have an income above these limits, including retired public servants such as teachers, gardaí and nurses, will lose their medical cards.

I would like to give an example of the manner in which the people to whom I have referred, who have served their country well, will be affected by these changes. I will highlight the position of retired teachers in this regard. The revised means test figures, to which I have referred, will make most retired teachers ineligible for the medical card on the basis of a relatively small level of income. While the limits seem generous on the face of it, they are not favourable to most retired teachers. All income will be calculated as gross income for the purposes of this scheme, as I have said. The pension a teacher receives after 40 years of service is now almost €32,000. If he or she enjoys a slightly higher pension on foot of a modest promotion or qualification allowance, he or she will exceed the limit by a small amount. This will also be the case in households with two pensions — if two retired teachers are married to each other, or a retired teacher is married to a person who is in receipt of a different occupational pension. Like all Members of the House, the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney, will accept that the teaching profession has contributed as much as any other sector, and more than most of them, to the development of Irish society. The standard of living of people in this country has increased as they have availed of the opportunity to participate in the educational system. Our primary, secondary and third level teachers have facilitated such change. This decision will hit the teaching profession hard.

All gross payments for substitute, resource or temporary teaching work undertaken by a retired teacher will, of course, be added to his or her pension for the purposes of calculating his or her income. It will probably cause the gross income of a teacher to exceed the means test limit. Other forms of income, such as savings in excess of a certain amount, interest and dividends from banks or credit unions, are also taken into consideration in the means test. The Government's proposals will have a strong impact on one of the benefits retired people enjoy. There is confusion about the total saving that will accrue from this measure. The Government does not know the exact figure. I would welcome it if the Minister, in her response at the end of this debate, could outline the extent of the savings that will be made as a result of the cruel and unacceptable decision to take medical cards from people over the age of 70.

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