Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

The reason there were more applications is that the groups around the country made the senior citizens aware of it. There are not people who are not senior citizens applying for the scheme. The Ministers should cop themselves on and not use the line that there are too many applications. Did anybody ever hear such a stupid idea that there are too many applications when every one of them qualified for the scheme? How does the Minister make that assertion when each applicant must state his or her age and qualifies? The Minister said too many have qualified. What he is trying to convince us of is unbelievable. Ms Phyl Lee, secretary of the Clontarf Active Retirement Association, said the group recently held a meeting to explain the scheme and 50 people turned up. They were 50 senior citizens who are entitled to the scheme and the Minister says there are too many of them. It is an absolute joke.

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