Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

No legislation has caused as much anger among the elderly and their support structures as this has done. Only last week my secretary got an urgent call to help a couple — a man in his 80s and his wife in her mid 70s — fill in a form. My secretary could not understand what they were talking about it. The form turned out to be a medical card review form. Has that form been sent out to all over 70s? I understood nothing would happen on that until the Bill had been enacted. I have never been in a house where an aged couple were as greatly annoyed about anything as this particular issue. The man is a contributory pensioner who has worked all his life. They have a small amount of land that she looked after. They are scared about losing their medical cards. It is only when one witnesses it on the ground that one understands how serious it is.

I urge the Minister, even at this late stage, to rethink the proposal. While she might have already informed my colleagues, how much will the Government save? The Minister said in the House yesterday that 95% of all people over 70 would get the medical card. Will the savings from the 5% cover the total administration costs? What will the savings be in real money?

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