Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The increase on VAT on food supplements to 23% is shocking for huge numbers of people who need and rely on food supplements and vitamins. To put it simply, the Government needs to abandon this misguided plan. I will give the Minister of State a very simple example. Tony is a cancer patient and a constituent of mine. He is a pensioner with a medical card. He spends all of his small income on keeping his house warm and feeding himself. His medication is covered by his medical card, but food supplements and vitamins recommended by his doctor for his health are not included under that scheme. He has had radical surgery and to keep his body functioning, he needs a range of vitamins and food supplements because his body cannot absorb certain vitamins. Currently, these cost him €70 a month. He cannot afford that. If the new VAT level is imposed, that will go up to €86. That will mean he will not be able to afford them at all. Does the Minister of State think it is acceptable that somebody who is ill and is suffering from cancer, whose doctor has recommended these vitamins and food supplements as absolutely essential keep his body functioning, should have to pay at all, or see any increases in what he pays?

He should abandon this, and these products should be covered by the medical card.

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