John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I would. I believe the Government's attempt to deal with the issue of medical cards was a brave attempt to ensure that the very scarce resources available in the health services would be spread around those who are most in need of support. Of the 355,000 people aged over 70, this decision did not affect 230,000. I will make a further point, and it is not by way of trying to waffle away from the issue that Deputies have put before me, if they say that the budget strategy and the announcement on budget day were somewhat different, it would be difficult to explain the situation in the three minutes available. I do not believe that the hysteria and fear generated from that day——

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