Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The past three budgets were regressive and targeted the sick, the vulnerable, those less well-off and those who were disproportionately unable to take any hits. If the Government had thought about introducing a 3% levy on the universal social charge for those earning more than €100,000 it would have yielded €170 million. Such a proposal was once advocated by the Labour Party. If the Government had introduced a lid levy on the off-licence trade it would have yielded €150 million in one year. Let us consider the protection that such funding could have offered to the disability sector.

I am disappointed to hear the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, state that the Department will negotiate with the HSE. How many times have we heard the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, say he was a hands-on Minister? Staff in Beaumont Hospital are willing and eager to carry out bilateral cochlear implants. They cannot do it without resources. The sum of €18 million which is required to ensure the introduction of bilateral cochlear implants should be forthcoming from the Government in order to give the children that are affected the best start in life. That would reduce the need for special needs assistants and ensure the children could reach their full potential. Such a step would allow us to live up to our constitutional commitment to cherish all the children of the nation equally.

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