Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He previously said that access to medicines is critical. He expressed serious concern when we applied a 50 cent charge on prescriptions. He vehemently opposed that and said it was an appalling attack. He said that measure alone could discourage people from going to their GP and on to a pharmacist to get their medicines on the medical card. He said the 50 cent charge was a barrier to people accessing possibly life-saving medicines. My problem is that charge is now €1.50 and is a bigger barrier to accessing life-saving medicines. What has changed between March 2011 and March 2013? In two years it has gone from 50 cent to €1.50 and the monthly ceiling has been raised to €19.50 so people have to pay that much in prescription charges prior to being exempted. What was promised and what has happened are at variance in many cases. It is hugely at variance in the context of free GP care for everybody. Universal health insurance and all the Government legislation and proposals that come to this House are simply not credible when one considers the commitments in the programme for Government. The health care commitments in the manifestos prior to the general election are fundamentally at variance with the programme for Government.

Last week, the Minister for Health waved at me an interim document on universal health insurance the Government had published. There is nothing in that.

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