Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Some 1 million people in the State have been pushed into poverty and low-income and allowing some of these people to have medical cards is not a claim to fame, but a claim to shame in reality. Discretionary medical cards have been withdrawn - there is no argument about that. In the past three years 18,810 discretionary medical and GP-visit cards have been withdrawn. There is not a Deputy in this House who has not been contacted by individuals calling at their offices to detail the situation befalling their family members or themselves.

Specialist nurses from the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation have described the situation as critical. An open letter to the Minister for Health details how it is affecting them. Is it not shocking that those on the front line who are dealing with this on a daily basis are often the last to be listened to? These specialist nurses paint a compelling and distressing picture of the real life outcomes arising from the Government's decision to reduce the budget allocation to medical card provision.

In their open letter the nurses describe the situation regarding discretionary cards as critical. Its letter states:

Parents are worn out, reduced to tears... worried out of their minds in relation to their child's medical card. The "lucky" ones who have a temporary 6 or 12 month medical card live in dread of the next review and the whole torturous process of form filling, rejection letters, more visits to GPs for supporting evidence etc. etc. etc. which starts all over again.

We are particularly worried about the parents who suffer in silence. The parents who have given up already. Depressed and beaten into submission by a system that is just too hard, where parents have to fight for every little support for their child.

What is truly shocking is that it has taken until recently for the Minister for Health and the HSE to finally concede that there is in fact a problem. The HSE's director of primary care has described as indefensible the withdrawal of discretionary medical cards from some patients. The Minister, Deputy Reilly, has floated the idea of a third tier in the medical card system. However, despite these admissions the policy remains in place. Reviews continue and discretionary cards are withdrawn from children whose condition has often deteriorated since the card was first awarded and their parent's financial situation in many cases has worsened.

It is impossible not to be emotive on this issue, which is such a difficult issue for citizens. What does it say about the values of the State, when Ministers stand up in the Dáil and justify withdrawing a medical card from a child with a debilitating medical need? What does it say about the State when it in effect abandons these parents who are caring for these children? Collectively in recent years we have had to face up to the trauma inflicted on children and young women in industrial schools, the Magdalen Laundries and of course Bethany Home whose survivors have yet to have their injustice recognised by the State.

We should be in no doubt that today's treatment by the State of our most vulnerable citizens is tomorrow's moral scandal.

How can any Government believe it is acceptable or right for this State to treat sick children in this manner? There is increasing evidence that this Government has little interest in the type and scale of reform necessary to fix the broken health system. The hurt and the anger felt by citizens across the State is palpable.

In Navan, our hospital services have been savaged in the past number of years. The HSE took surgery services away from our hospital in 2010. It was only when the hospital campaign put 10,000 people on the streets for a rally that we managed to reverse that services cut but only partially. The Minister of State's senior colleague, the Minister, Deputy Reilly, addressed that rally and stated that there would be no more cuts to services in the hospital in Navan until a new regional hospital was built, but this clearly has not happened. Somebody in the Department thinks it is a good idea for 19,000 people who use Navan accident and emergency department to go to Drogheda. The INMO asked for Drogheda to be closed to new admissions approximately four weeks ago because of the overcrowding there. Overcrowding leads to delayed diagnosis, delayed treatments, the spread of disease and sub-optimal outcomes.

This Saturday, another 10,000 people will take to the streets in Navan to defend our accident and emergency Department. However, sick children, who face the cuts, will not be able to protest because they will not be able to make it to that protest. The Minister and the Government are going down the path of least resistance and that is where they are imposing the cuts. I urge the Minister of State to turn away from the path of least resistance and ensure these discretionary medical cards are in place.

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