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

Under standing orders we were not allowed to move the reversal of cuts in the motion itself, as it would have been repetitive in the context of a motion two weeks ago. It would also pre-empt the debate on the social welfare Bill that will come before the House on Thursday and Friday. Needless to say, however, we are calling for a reversal of the cuts in last week's budget announcement. We are doing so for a number of reasons but primarily because we believe this budget is unfair and regressive. A cursory look at the budget, and the policies and philosophy surrounding it, shows that this is so. In fact, the last three budgets introduced since this Government came into office, have been regressive and unfair. It is not just me who is saying that - all independent analyses by reputable organisations and institutions have acknowledged that prior to this Government taking office, even in difficult circumstances, budgets were at least fair and progressive. We now find, however, that with Fine Gael and Labour in Government, they are bringing forward regressive and unfair budgets.

People were outside Leinster House today protesting about savage cuts affecting the elderly. The orthodoxy of Fine Gael is to protect wealth and the rich but once a political party starts from that premise, it will always be difficult to bring forward a fair and just budget. In such circumstances, Fine Gael has stated that it will not increase tax and the party is holding rigidly to that position. At the same time, however, they are asking the oldest, sickest and poorest in our society to pay for the budget imbalance and close the deficit. In other words, the burden of bringing the deficit down to 3% in the coming years is falling on those who can least afford to carry it. Meanwhile, those who could most afford it will get away scot free.

I am all in favour of ensuring that entrepreneurship is incentivised, but that is a separate issue. The key issue is that Fine Gael has decided to protect the wealthiest. At the same time, they are asking the people who were outside the gates of Leinster House today, as well as those who were unable to attend the protest, to carry an unfair burden. That is why this motion is before the House. Because of the standing order it is, albeit in a roundabout way, asking the Government to reverse the cuts.

The rise in prescription charges is another example. A short time after taking office in 2011, the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, said he would get rid of prescription charges. He outlined all the reasons for cancelling what was then a 50 cent charge per prescription item. At the time, the Minister said the charge was a regressive step that would disincentivise people from accessing basic medicines. In addition, he said it would force people to access health care through the acute hospital setting. These were the reasons why he said he would drop the prescription charge when he became Minister. We can now see what happened, of course - the Minister has increased the charge fivefold to a maximum of €25 per month. That is a direct attack on the living standards of the oldest people in our society.

A man rang me from Cork today because he knew I was raising this matter in the House. He said I could cite his personal circumstances. I do not want to mention his name but the man is on 12 prescription medicines per month. He suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and has a pacemaker. He also has arthritis and other complications. He is on a basic pension but will have to pay €25 per month in prescription charges. That is a direct attack on the living standards of a person on the old age pension. There is no way of dressing it up otherwise.

This goes against every policy stated by the Minister for Health both in opposition and in government. When he became a Minister in 2011, he was so enthusiastic about protecting the living standards of the elderly that he said the prescription charge should be dropped. He cannot pretend that he did not know what was happening in the economy. Surely, at that stage when he took office he realised that difficult decisions had to be made.

It is fascinating to hear Government Ministers, including Labour Party ones, say that they are making tough decisions. There is nothing tough about taking money from the oldest and most vulnerable in society. It is tough to take on the powerful and elite in our society. Those would be tough decisions but the Fine Gael orthodoxies have come through in droves, which means protecting the elite and not having a fair and progressive approach to asking citizens to carry the burden of the budget deficit.

For all those reasons this motion is timely. It calls on Dáil Éireann to agree "that Irish society should protect the rights of older citizens and solidarity between the generations". That is what we represent here. Last week's budget announced by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and more importantly, the cuts announced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, simply undermine every basic decency whereby older people's living standards should be protected.

In 2008, I well remember the large crowds protesting on the streets when we introduced a €700 monthly limit for medical card eligibility. The figure was €1,400 for a couple. That was the start of undermining universality in the context of the over 70s. The then leader of the Opposition and current Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and the current Tánaiste, said this was a disgraceful assault on universality and older people's entitlements. They said the State should not interfere in their right to access medical cover and services. Back then, the current Taoiseach said elderly people did not want to be pressurised about means tests and application forms, or have to worry about their property, savings or whether a man from the Government will call to their home or if they will lose their right to a medical card.

The man from the Government did call, however. It was the Taoiseach himself, together with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for public expenditure and cuts. There has been a complete undermining of people over 70 in the context of medical card eligibility. At the time we were talking about people with basic public service pensions being caught when the limit was €700 per person per month. It is now down to €500 - in fact the eligibility figure for a couple is €900 - so the principle of universality has been absolutely undermined.

I accept that resources are scarce but they were as scarce in 2008 as they are now. The choices made in the budget were the wrong ones. Once the Government, and particularly the Labour Party, supported the principle that the wealthy must be protected at all costs, it meant that those with the least amount were being asked to carry the biggest burden. There is no way the circle can be squared otherwise.

Fine Gael's philosophy of protecting that cohort has come through and the burden has fallen on those who were protesting outside the gates of Leinster House earlier today. It also affects those who protested last year about the loss of personal assistants for those with disabilities. Their services were withdrawn until there was a partial reversal of last year's Government decision.

We should also look at the great furore over giving GP cards to under fives.

Again, this is a smoke and mirrors effort on behalf of Government. What it is asking us as a society to do is to strip medical cards from those who most need them, be they medical cards obtained under income eligibility guidelines or discretionary medical cards awarded because of illness. These people are being asked to forego their entitlement so that the Labour Party can applaud itself for giving free GP care to children under five years of age. The public is not buying this. It does not want see a situation whereby those who are ill and in need of the support of the State are paying for free GP care for children under five. It will now be the case that a child of a person on an exceptionally high income will receive free GP free care while a child of six years of age with profound disabilities, whose parents are in receipt of low incomes, will have his or her discretionary medical card withdrawn. Can the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, honestly say this is fair and equitable? It is anything but. This principle is being supported by the Labour Party.

As I stated earlier, older people have a just entitlement to resources from the State to support them and help them to live independently at home free of harassment from the State and any organisation at arms length from the State. We now have a situation whereby people are being harassed on a daily basis by the HSE in the context of a review of medical cards under the income guidelines. There is not a Deputy in this House who is not consistently assisting people in respect of medical card reviews and appeals by the HSE. Many of these people have been awarded medical cards based on income. We are told people are being randomly selected for review. People of 88 years of age are being randomly selected for review. Budget 2014 has been referred to as fair and just. It is anything but when an 88 year old person is being asked to undergo a review in respect of a medical card to which he or she understood they would be entitled for the remainder of their lives. We are told people are being randomly selected by a computer. I do not accept that people are being randomly selected. I believe people are being intentionally selected and targeted. The evidence is there for all to see in the context of the number of queries being raised in this House by way of parliamentary questions and highlighted on the airwaves countrywide. People are being harassed. People who would have their just entitlements with regard to a medical card are being harassed. For all of these reasons, I cannot accept that this Government has done anything to protect and defend the living standards of the elderly. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Medical card withdrawals and prescription charge increases are only two issues which affect the elderly. They are also subject to many savage attacks in the social welfare area. I would like to remind Members of how our elderly people were used in the context of political capital, through the use of emotive language which does not stand up to scrutiny in the context of what was done only five years later by the individuals who stood in Molesworth Street and promised that they would reverse the cuts being imposed on the elderly, which they said they found abhorrent. In 2008, Deputy Kenny, now Taoiseach, said, "Surely, this Judas response to the elderly will be the Government's epitaph". He then said in this House last week that budget 2014 is fair and just. It is an unjust and unfair budget. In 2008, Deputy Shatter, now Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, said, "This was a callous and cold-hearted decision made by a totally incompetent Government ... If one extends the right to universal health care in circumstances in which they rely on it for their lives, one cannot simply withdraw it arbitrarily". Also in 2008, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, now Tánaiste, when speaking about the then Taoiseach said:

The Taoiseach has stated that the formula he announced this morning means that 95% of those who are over 70 now will qualify for a full medical card ... If that is the case, why does he not just do the decent thing and leave them with an automatic entitlement to a medical card? This should be done instead of having them worried, as they are, that their income will creep up above the limits of €700 and €1,400, respectively, for those who are single or married. They are worried about what will happen if one partner dies and what income will be left to the other partner. They are worried whether, at some future stage, the Minister will reduce the level of the means test.

Deputy Gilmore, now Tánaiste, was correct in his prediction because the Minister will reduce the level of the means test. Unfortunately, he never told the people in Molesworth Street five years ago that it would be a Labour Party Minister that would force the Minister for Health into the situation of having to reduce the income limits.

It is unacceptable that these particular cuts are being foisted on the oldest and, often the sickest, in our society. As I said previously, this is an unfair budget and an unfair Government. The philosophy being espoused by Fine Gael has now inculcated into the Labour Party, with it now asking the oldest and sickest people of this country to fund and support the elite in society. This is a decision made by Fine Gael and bowed to by the Labour Party.

I commend the motion to the House.

See this speech in context