Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

I fully support the position of the Labour spokesperson, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, on this legislation. I find it sad to be in the House listening to speaker after speaker from Fianna Fáil and the Green Party trying to support this legislation. Deputies state the Fianna Fáil Party has done many things for senior citizens over the lifetimes of various Governments. No one in this House can deny that. However, to try to ring-fence a mistake by indicating the positive actions taken by the party over the years is wrong.

During the week, I read an article by Charlie McCreevy, now a European Commissioner and the former Minister for Finance who introduced free medical cards for those aged over 70. This article was about the Lisbon treaty and Mr. McCreevy stated the Government must respect what the people stated. If Mr. McCreevy was still Minister for Finance and this thinking was applied with regard to the medical cards he would have rejected this proposal.

To a man and a woman, the senior citizens in the major assembly who came to the Dáil to object to this stated the new proposals put together at short notice were unacceptable. They wanted universal provision of medical cards. They did not want this because they had suddenly qualified for it. This did not interest them one iota. They believed the decision made in 2002 was proper and recognised the value of senior citizens to this country over many years and that the provision of medical cards should be applied across the board.

I hear arguments on whether a judge or a Garda superintendent should have a medical card. This is camouflage by Fianna Fáil members who know in their hearts and souls that this was a major error of judgment. One could put it down to the inexperience of the Government although there was a great deal of experience around the table. However, it seemed those with experience were not listened to and this decision was forced through. Was it forced through because the Minister for Health and Children would have resigned otherwise? Something of this nature had to be in place or stated at the time for the Fianna Fáil Ministers to agree to this. It meant that 5% of senior citizens were disowned by the Government and this was never on because of the value they have given to the country.

A judge would never apply for a medical card in his or her lifetime. However, we tell judges that because of the money they earn, they are not entitled to a medical card. This does not tally with the statements from Deputies on the other side of the House that they look after senior citizens. Universality should apply and medical cards should be provided not to one senior citizen or 10% of them but to 100% of senior citizens.

I listened to Deputy White try to distance the Green Party from this decision, stating that the party must agree with the Government, that it is a saving and that we must look after senior citizens and it is wonderful to do so. This is a fob. The Government knows it made a mistake and Members are trying to hang their hats on various aspects of it but this does not wear. To a person, senior citizens believe this should have been given to all of them.

We have all heard representations from the Retired Teachers Association of Ireland, RTAI, which is gravely concerned about this. Recently, a good friend of mine who is a wonderful community worker walked up to me and told me she would lose her medical card. I know about her health condition. She attends hospital and consultants on a regular basis. I could see the concern in her face about the fact that she knew she would lose her medical card. These are the people who ensured education was the bedrock of the Celtic tiger. Fianna Fáil and the Green Party now state that those in the RTAI made such a contribution but in these times they cannot be provided with medical cards. The trust they had in the Government at the time the decision was made by Charlie McCreevy in 2002 has been lost forever, to all intents and purposes.

The RTAI has an expectancy, as does Age Action and the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament that medical cards should be provided and this provision should be underpinned. For the measly amount of money being saved, the dignity of the Minister and to ensure the Government did not back away from the measure, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party supported it. This is a major error of judgment. I hope people in these parties will state they made a mistake on the day, as Deputy Joe Behan stated. He put his political future on the line and has not made up his mind whether he will run for this House again. He believes the Fianna Fáil Party, of which he was a member for so long, was wrong to support the Minister on this. This has been reflected on an individual basis by many people throughout the country. I support our spokesperson in her opposition to this Bill.

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