Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thought it was important that I take part in this debate because it is a harrowing one which we should not be having. The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. I urge the Minister and this Government to think about the sentiments contained in that saying. If people were to look at the whole debacle around the medical card issue, in particular discretionary medical cards, they would understand that the score cards the Taoiseach mentioned when he appointed the Ministers would state they have failed miserably, in particular those with life threatening diseases, those who are terminally ill and those who have conditions which do not go away and which they are being asked to prove time and again as reviews take place. We have seen such cases in the media.

I and every other Deputy can instance cases where people have come to us, although, thankfully, we have been able to intercede on their behalf. In some cases, the HSE has eventually listened to the cases we have presented and has renewed the medical cards. However, it should not be up to me or to anybody else in this House to intercede because the documentation I receive is the very same documentation the HSE receives and loses quite regularly, as others have said. It cannot make a determination, or else it makes the wrong determination, in the cases of people who have terminal diseases. I have dealt with too many cases in the past number of months for this to be a once-off clerical error. The system denies everything in the first instance in the hope that people will go away or will experience anxiety, frustration and give out about the system but will not do anything about it. Earlier, a Deputy talked about the fear factor and that this debate would generate fear among the public. We are not generating fear among the public; it is the HSE and the refusal to grant medical card to people in those circumstances which are generating fear among the public.

I dealt with a case recently of somebody with Huntington's disease. His wife did not apply for a medical card and yet she got one while the person who is terminally ill - there is no change in such cases but regression - and who has the same income did not get a medical card. That is absolutely crazy. It took three months for the HSE to grant a medical card which resulted in trauma for that family. They are not constituents of mine but they came to me as a last resort because they had gone to others who did not manage to get a medical card. After one look at the documentation, I said this was crazy.

I have dealt with cases in my area also and time and again where it is blatantly clear that a case warrants the granting of medical cards as there is not enough income to sustain the family if it has to pay for medical devices, medical care and so on and yet the State refuses the person the medical card. Time and again it has not taken into account the fact that the disposable income of a family will have disappeared not just because of the crisis, but because of budgetary cuts, the universal social charge, the property tax and the increase in energy price and so on. That all adds up and yet the Government ends up forcing an ill person to make a decision as to whether to heat the home to keep well or to pay for medicines out of what little the person has. Far too often, the person makes the wrong decision which will cost the State a lot more at the end of the day because he or she will end up in the accident and emergency department or in hospital because he or she did not get the care required. The bureaucracy is absolutely crazy.

Time and again forms are sent to elderly people who are asked the same questions they answered the last time they applied. The situation will not have changed. Their mother-in-law's maiden names will not have changed. If one is an 80 year old person, who cares what the mother-in-law's maiden name is? I would say the mother-in-law is well dead at that stage. That is how crazy the system is.

I will give one example of the uncaring attitude of the HSE. Recently, a 20 year old, who is mentally and physically disabled, was told that his allocation of incontinence pads was to be reduced to two per day. That shows the attitude of the HSE. That must change and a more caring approach must be taken to people in our society who deserve medical aid.

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