Michael McCarthy (Labour)

Tomorrow is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. It is shameful that the Government is trying to dismantle the Combat Poverty Agency.

The bank bail-out scheme details were finally published yesterday after much delay and have raised as many questions as they answered. I have a number of issues to put to the Leader. There is no indication that senior bankers will resign or will be removed, as was the case in the United Kingdom. There has been no apology from anybody in the banking sector and there is no accountability. The scheme is vague as to whether salaries will be limited for top executives and there is no cap on bankers' salaries. Will the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, come to this House to answer our questions in as much detail as is required?

The medical card controversy began because the Government has not been clear about this measure. This morning the HSE published the guidelines on its website. It is clear that €210.50 per week is the income limit for a single person and that anybody above that limit will lose the medical card. Has the Government sought to find out how many people are in that bracket? Has it consulted with GPs? We know it did not do so in 2001 when the measure was introduced as an election gimmick in order to buy the general election of that year.

We are not playing politics with this issue but are doing our job as parliamentarians, transmitting the messages from our constituencies to Government.