Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The money was supposed to be used on an annual basis for the sports capital programme, but for the past couple of years the Government has taken the money from the national lottery and put it into the Exchequer fund. The Government is proposing to have a new sports capital fund with the up-front payment but it will not come on an annual basis. I fail to see the sense in what is being done.

The retention of the 9% VAT rate is helpful and interesting but the €13 million provided to Tourism Ireland to support and promote this country abroad is being taken away. I accept that the Government has reduced the travel tax, but for three years it has robbed the private pension funds of elderly people in the State to fund that measure. It pocketed the cash and never applied it to a reduction in the travel tax. It is a classic bait and switch or three-card trick, as the Government got the money but did not spend it. The reduction is being introduced in April, but this comes at the same time as it is extending a raid on the private pension funds. I accept that the reduction in the travel tax is a good idea, but that money has already been taken from the pensioners over the past three years. The Government is making it seem great and is using it as a carrot.

I am deeply concerned about the proposal to reduce the Department of Health's budget by approximately €660 million, and particularly the plan to eliminate 70,000 medical cards. I fail to see who could end up with a medical card in the end. What state will a person have to be in to qualify for a medical card?

See this speech in context