Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am implacably opposed to this move to erode further universal health care to the over 70s. A brass neck attitude seems to abound in this House both on the Government side and on the main Opposition party benches when it comes to this issue.

As the saying goes: "By their deeds and words you shall know them." If one was to state a case against what the Government is doing, one would not have to do more than cite the motion tabled here by the current Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, on 21 October 2008.

One need only consider the arguments he made against Fianna Fáil's effort to remove universal health care for pensioners, that is, for all those over 70. Indeed, what Fianna Fáil at the time was trying to do was even worse. Initially it planned to remove completely automatic entitlement to a medical card for those over 70. That was its initial proposal, which was met with utter outrage by the pensioners of the nation and many others who came out on the streets and, like the people of Cyprus, showed the effectiveness of mass protest. Within days, they had terrified the Fianna Fáil Government into backtracking on its atrocious plan to do away with automatic entitlement to medical cards. I certainly hope that in response to this effort, the pensioners will do the same again and, if they are alerted to what is going on, will come out onto the streets.

At the time, both Fine Gael and the Labour Party stood with the pensioners at the demonstrations and expressed the same outrage at what Fianna Fáil was proposing to do. Not only did they express outrage at the original drastic proposal to remove automatic entitlement for all those over 70, they also expressed outrage at the revised position Fianna Fáil adopted as a result of the protests. They, and specifically the now Minister, Deputy Reilly, asserted that even in the face of considerable backtracking on the part of the Government, which conceded that only those over the threshold of €36,000 per year would not be entitled to the medical card, this was neither acceptable nor good enough. The then Deputy Reilly then tabled a motion in the Dáil demanding "immediate reversal of the Government decision to withdraw the automatic entitlement to a medical card from citizens aged over 70". He made the point that his policy and that of Fine Gael was there should be universal entitlement. He made this point without qualifications or buts or thresholds or eligibility criteria. He stated there should be universal entitlement to medical cards for all those over 70 and that "Fine Gael supports the policy of universal health care for all". While I will quote further from his contribution in a moment, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, stated: "To suggest that an individual with €36,500 gross is among the super rich is such a warped view of income as to defy understanding." The threshold that Government proposed was €36,000 but yet the current Administration proposes to reduce it to €31,000. I will quote further from the Minister, Deputy Reilly, who, commenting on the motion he tabled, stated:

The principle is simple; universal health care for everyone over the age of 70. Those are the people who made this country... They raised us, nursed us when we were sick, protected us from violence, grew our food and ran a proud Civil Service. Are we to repay them by taking away something which was freely given?

He continued that "with the loss of their medical cards, many of those affected... may not take their medicines regularly. If they end up in hospital as a result, one day’s care will negate any saving made to the Exchequer". He stated that "for the sake of €20 million", which is the same figure this Government projects will be saved by the measure under discussion, "we are sacrificing the principle of universality in health care for the over 70s". He then asked, "What is next?", thereby pointing to the slippery slope once one begins down this road. He stated:

It makes no sense to remove the medical card from the over 70s. It is important to point out that the removal of the card is in direct contradiction to the stated aim of the Minister... of supporting people at home and in the community, thereby avoiding hospitalisation.

One really could not put it any more clearly and he was absolutely right. I have nothing to add to that but this measure is an utter betrayal of those words. It reveals those words to have been hollow and cynical and as another ruse to fool the people. It was a ruse to fool the pensioners and to gather in the votes of those who rightly took to the streets against the outrageous plans of Fianna Fáil to take away their automatic entitlement to medical cards. It was a case of cynically saying what those people wished to hear before going into government to do the exact opposite. Moreover, the Government is doing even worse than the action to which Fianna Fáil fell back as a result of those protests. It really is outrageous and as I have indicated in the aforementioned quotes, someone who is earning more than the threshold being proposed, namely, €31,000, was not super rich. Such people were nurses, doctors or teachers, that is, ordinary people and there should be no threshold which would debar them from automatic entitlement to a medical card.

In response to all these points, Members opposite of course will note that they will get a GP visit card, which mitigates against the unfairness and injustice and many of those points the Minister, Deputy Reilly, rightly made at the time. However, even if one gets a free visit to a GP, one still may be obliged to pay out a lot of money for medication and for items such as 'flu vaccines, public health nurses, community nurses, hearing aids, physiotherapy, dentistry or services for one's eyes, namely, for all those items that people are far more likely to need as they move into their elder years. Moreover, all those items are before one counts the possible costs of ending up in hospital. This was the point the Minister, Deputy Reilly, made himself at the time. It is the point he made to Fianna Fáil when its members referred to the thresholds in an effort to justify them. He noted there were significant potential costs for elderly people, above and beyond the cost of going to a GP, and, therefore, there should be no question of eligibility criteria, thresholds or anything else but it should just be a straightforward and simple principle in respect of the people over 70, who have made a massive contribution to the State. As the Minister then pointed out, the generation to which I refer are those who paid 60% tax for most of their lives and who were obliged to put up with interest rates of 15% on their mortgages. This generation has already made significant sacrifices but now the Government intends to ask them to pay again and to take away this entitlement, which they deserve richly as a reward for the lifelong contribution they have made to the State and society. However, the Government intends to take that away from them, which is absolutely outrageous. As the Minister, Deputy Reilly, pointed out at the time, what next? Once one takes away the principle of universality, he asked, "what is next?" We are on the slippery slope. At the time, he asked about the €20 million in savings and I must read out this classic quotation on the savings. He stated "Some €20 million, and much more besides, could have been secured from the bankers who got off very lightly." He went on to state:

An additional €100 million or €200 million from that source would not have gone astray. Instead, however, the Government went after the elderly whom it perceived as the soft option.

This is extraordinary as one simply could not put it better, more succinctly or more accurately. Was he right then or was he simply playing people?

Was this just another cynical trick pulled on the elderly in this country or did he mean it? There is no doubt that his words were correct, yet now he has simply torn up those promises. That was a promise. Fine Gael and the Labour Party said that their policy was universal entitlement to all health care, and all costs of health care, for all pensioners. They put down motions to that effect in the Dáil. That was a promise to the people of this country whose votes those parties were seeking. Then they go and do this to them, the exact opposite of what they said, and try and justify the very things they railed against when in the Opposition. That type of stuff is not just a cruel kick in the teeth for the pensioners of this country, but it has brought politics into disrepute. The reason people are so utterly alienated from the political system is that politicians think it is okay to play fast and loose with the truth and with their supposed principles, manifestos and so forth to cynically secure votes and then just abandon those policies completely and do the reverse. Really, it is shameful.

Incidentally, the Minister, Deputy James Reilly, went further at the time. It was not just pensioners. He said: "My personal belief is that once Irish citizens [not just Irish citizens over 70 but all Irish citizens] have adequate food, clothes on their backs and roofs over their heads, they should be entitled to proper access to health and education regardless of their status, creed, race or religion." That is absolutely right. However, now we are establishing eligibility criteria for pensioners and reducing the eligibility and rights of those pensioners. It is not just all the citizens that the Minister referred to, but the pensioners. It is simply unacceptable.

How does it make sense to do this against the background of this Government having committed itself to universal health cover and free general practitioner care for everybody? I do not understand how it can square this, and all for €20 million. At that time the Members opposite asked the Fianna Fáil Government about the €20 million which it said it would save through that measure. That Government could never show the savings. Can this Government show the savings?

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