Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At a time of plenty, during the so-called Bertie Ahern Celtic tiger era, when money was thrown at everything, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and the PDs, had to introduce Supplementary Estimates at a time of boom. Money does not solve everything.

During September 2013, 1.987 million people, 43% of the population have either a medical card or a GP-visit card. This is an increased number. Since this Government came to power, the number of medical cards has increased by more than 215,000. This is fact, not fiction. The number of GP-visit cards has increased by 3,344. This is fact, not fiction. When this Government came to office, 39.6% of the population had either a medical card or a GP-visit card but today that number is 43.35%.

See this speech in context