John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Before I take any lectures on discrimination from any side of the House, I must state that other parties were given opportunities to increase old age pensions and to make facilities available to the elderly. They failed dismally when they had those opportunities. Let the record speak for itself, the facts are there and I do not have to reiterate them. Not only do I recognise that those parties failed dismally, but the Irish people recognised it also when they practically scuttled the total Opposition in the last general election.