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

We are being asked to legislate for a real betrayal of policy on eligibility criteria for those aged over 70. By any credible stretch of the imagination, this is a full-frontal assault on the over 70s. The Minister stated previously that people should be entitled to medical care based on need, not on their ability to pay. He spoke about universal entitlement to GP access, but this Bill undermines that universal access. He is now doing the exact opposite to everything he said in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 in respect of the over 70s.

The Minister also referred to discretionary medical cards, universal health insurance and primary care. He accused me earlier on of having amnesia during Dáil questions. He should go back and read his own speech during a Private Members' motion in 2008, condemning the then Government for bringing forward more generous eligibility criteria. We were accused at the time of undermining the basic principle of universality, but the Minister is now limiting access to medical cards for those aged over 70. He states that it will only affect one in five people, but once he has conceded the principle, then it is just a case of reducing the eligibility criteria downwards, which is exactly what he stated in 2008.

This Bill represents a shameless betrayal and U-turn of what the Minister committed to during debates in 2008 when he was in opposition, but more importantly, it is also a betrayal of what he committed to in the programme for Government. There is no mention in any part of the programme for Government that eligibility criteria would be increased and that more people would lose their medical cards. It is not mentioned anywhere. In fact, the programme commits to increasing funding in care for the elderly year on year from 2011 to 2016. However, in the last two budgets there has been a shameful reversal of that policy. The Minister cannot pretend that he did not know the difficulties the country was facing. He was well aware of them, and if he was not, he was the only person in the country who was not. The idea that he could make a commitment in 2008 is one thing: I can understand him being shameless in opposition for the sake of power and saying what he liked to advance his case. However, he drafted a programme for Government that he had no intention whatsoever of honouring. If he did have such an intention, he would have taken a more credible approach to the policies he is pursuing now, as opposed to what he wrote in the programme for Government in early 2011. There is no semblance, no bearing, no reality to what he wrote and to what he is doing. That is simply the fact of the matter. It is shameful that he can come in here and throw out a few figures about how it will only affect 5% of the elderly. It is affecting an awful lot more than 5% of the elderly if he does his mathematics in any way, shape or form. Then again, mathematics, calculations and logarithms are not his strong points.

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