Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

No. We are treating people, whether they are married or single, on the basis of income. It is exactly on the same basis. It is based totally on equality. The Deputy earlier claimed that what we are doing is unconstitutional. If that were the case, if a couple has a social welfare pension and one party passes away, the remaining party gets the benefit of that for a period of, I believe, six weeks. The same happens with tax law changes. All of these arrangements are based on the income of individuals. I am making provision for a three-year period. I would have wished it to be longer, but the advice of the Attorney General was that it was not possible that a widower or widow could have it for the entirety of his or her life and a single person could not have it on the same basis. The purpose of the amendment I will move later is to ensure we are not being discriminatory in those cases.

Regarding the deserted person, I assume the Deputy is talking about a person whose spouse has gone. We frequently deal with deserted people under the age of 70 who get medical cards based on their circumstances and that is how they are assessed. They are not assessed based on the circumstances of someone who is no longer supporting, living with or connected with that person. The normal arrangements that apply throughout the medical card scheme apply in those cases.

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