Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. Fianna Fáil fully supports the Sinn Féin proposal to ensure the provision of a full medical card for every child in receipt of domiciliary care allowance. During the last Dáil this party was to the forefront in highlighting the Government's targeting of people on discretionary medical cards before the election.

We committed to ensuring a medical card for all children whose carer was in receipt of domiciliary care allowance. The Fine Gael and Labour Party Government promised people with disabilities that they would be the Government's number one social justice priority. I am glad to say the Minister has tonight confirmed that that is the case.

It is truly regrettable that thousands of families had their medical cards withdrawn, causing untold misery and hardship. They were families who had assumed they would always receive that care. I recall many children with serious medical needs who required substantial daily care having their discretionary medical cards revoked. For two years the then Government denied that there was a deliberate policy to cut the number of discretionary medical cards. There are approximately 10,000 children who, I believe, thanks to the announcement made tonight, will receive a medical card which they truly deserve. The Minister’s announcement of the allocation of €20 million is welcome and I ask that the money be made available immediately, without having to wait for the budget which will be announced near the end of the year. The money should be made available now to take the burden off these families.

The campaign group Our Children’s Health established in 2014 by Kevin Shortall and Peter Fitzpatrick must be commended for its tireless campaigning for better access to medical cards for sick children. It remains imperative that we establish a flexible assessment regime for discretionary medical cards in order that the financial burden people with a serious illness or disabilities are forced to endure will be lifted. Fianna Fáil made it a provision in the confidence and supply agreement with Fine Gael that the more humane system for discretionary medical cards it had suggested in the run-up to the general election be fully maintained. Fianna Fáil does not believe in a two-tier health system. We are committed to creating a more inclusive society and dismantling barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating in society.

Deputy Joe O'Reilly mentioned C-PAP machines. I have been using one of them for the past 15 years. I hired it initially for €70 a week. After seven or eight months I bought it at a cost of approximately €1,600. The Department of Health is paying €86 a month to lease one of these machines, which works out at nearly €1,100 a year. Approximately five weeks ago I purchased a new machine with a mask for €750. The machines have come down in price and are available. I suggest to the Government - I am glad tha an official is present - that it is being ripped off in leasing these machines. What was costing €1,070 to lease or rent can be bought for €750. Anyone who needs one of these machines really needs it. I would not be here tonight but for it. They are crucial to those who need them. This issue should be examined because I imagine millions of euro is being lost as a result of what is happening.

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