Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Is the Minister saying that any medical cards issued under this provision will only have a three year life span and that medical card holders will be required to submit details of eligibility? Can the Minister explain the position of people over 70 who currently have the medical card as a universal right under the existing legislation? This is relevant to widows, widowers, those with a spouse alive and single people but we are dealing with widows and widowers here. What is the position of these people? How many cards have been issued that have not been specified to expire by any particular date? What arrangements are being made to withdraw those cards if there is a suspicion of ineligibility in circumstances where there has been no communication after 2 March?

The Minister referred to the specifics of an administrative arrangement that the HSE applies to the means-tested medical card, as opposed to the card being granted to over 70s or being granted on a discretionary basis. The Minister can correct me if I am wrong. The Minister referred to advice from the Attorney General. I am not aware of any legal basis on which the Minister is compelled to remove a medical card from a widow or widower three years after suffering the bereavement of a spouse. Can the Minister identify the legal principle that says the medical card must be removed from the widow or widower three years after the spouse dies? Does something indicate that it must be three years rather than two, four or five years? I am unaware of that.

Is it based on some perceived theory of political correctness, as opposed to a legal principle, with regard to unmarried individuals? Widows and widowers are recognised in our law and, in a number of areas, they receive additional benefits over and above what unmarried individuals receive. This is because they are widows or widowers. Can the Minister confirm there are some exceptions to what the Minister is now proposing? Can she explain the social policy basis and the moral basis of the exceptions? Based on what is proposed, if I am 71 and I have qualified for the medical card under this scheme and my wife of 70 dies, I will retain the medical card for three years and, after three years, I may lose it. I will not lose it if I find another woman who is willing to reside with me and whose income, if grossed with mine, will not take us beyond the €1,400. That is, if she is willing to live with me as husband and wife. Is it part of the departmental social policy that widows and widowers over 70 place advertisements seeking unmarried or widowed individuals to reside with them just before they get to the cusp of the third year? What is the social policy thinking? Presumably they would be living as husband and wife cohabiting with a third party. I do not understand the social policy basis of that.

If the Government is intent on introducing equality legislation with regard to gay couples, why would the Minister exclude the case where a woman who has been widowed within the three year period arranges for another woman to reside with her for companionship? Why are they excluded from having income grossed up to allow them to qualify for the medical card? Can the Minister explain the social basis for that?

If I had a brother, which I do not, and my wife passed away and I had qualified for the medical card, if I was 71 and my brother was 70, if my brother moved in with me and our gross income did not exceed €1,400, what would be the social basis for denying us the medical card? Qualification for the medical card is based on the fact of people over 70 engaging in sexual intimacy. Is that the social basis and is that the principled social policy we are advancing to justify the peculiarity of the rules being applied?

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