James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

With all due respect, I would believe them before I would believe the Minister.

Health outcomes are worst for the poor; that is a well known fact. It is completely bogus for the Minister to refer to Northern Ireland and to compare the NHS with our medical card system.

Our medical card system covers the one third of the people of Ireland who are among the sickest and lowest income earners, whereas the UK NHS covers all citizens across all income groups. It is outrageous to compare the two with regard to prescriptions.

The Minister referred to Holland. She is remarkably good at reframing the situation. The reality is that our health care policy, Fair Care, transposes some of the system in operation in Holland, not all of it. We have adopted some of the procedures in Northern Ireland with regard to waiting lists and we have adopted some procedures from the UK with regard to the model for giving hospitals and trusts some independence instead of central command and control in the HSE.

I strongly support the amendment. It is clear that billions of euro can be put into the banks at the drop of a hat but the Minister is prepared to use the poor as an ATM, to be raided at will. At €1 it would be €48 million, at €2 it would be €96 million and at €5 million it would be €240 million. We all realise where this will end up if the amendment tabled by Sinn Féin and supported by the Labour Party and Fine Gael is not accepted.

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