Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I reiterate that we want the Minister for Finance in the House tomorrow. He was kind enough to attend the all-night debate a few weeks ago and it is only fair that he comes to the House tomorrow to discuss the scheme. Having spoken to my colleagues, we are happy to do our bit and be in the House until whatever time it takes tomorrow night and come back Saturday, if needed, but we need to see the Minister in the House. We do not want to be fobbed off with a junior Minister.

An international conference on world hunger takes place today, which will be attended by Kofi Annan, former President, Mary Robinson, Jeffrey Sachs and the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Peter Power. I wish the conference well in its deliberations. It is important to recognise that while we are experiencing hardship, many millions of people throughout the world can only dream about the lifestyles we have. That is one reason I am disappointed by the cutbacks in the foreign aid budget for 2009 but I recognise Ireland is still on target to meet the 0.7% of GDP commitment, which is welcome. It is important to obtain value for the money spent. I am concerned that Vietnam, one of our nine programme countries, has jailed a journalist, Nguyen Viet Chien, for two years for investigating corruption. Ireland gives Vietnam €20 million in foreign aid. He was investigating a Government agency that distributes foreign aid and, therefore, it is vital clarification is sought from the Vietnamese Government about what is going on. We are investing in foreign aid and we need to make sure corruption is not associated with its distribution.

Next week the new musical, Jekyll and Hyde, will open in the National Concert Hall. I am sure it is fully staffed but if an understudy is needed, perhaps the show's producers could talk to the Minister for Finance because he is excelling in the role. During his Budget Statement on Tuesday, he said he would abolish universal coverage for medical cards for the over 70s. Yesterday he implied he was willing to consider examining the decision again if there were anomalies. Earlier on radio, he said he would stick to his original decision. I attended a cross party meeting earlier where this issue was discussed. None of us knew the full details of how the scheme would work and confusion abounded. If we do not understand, one can only imagine what it is like for people in their 70s trying to get their heads around how they will be affected by this proposal. It is clearly ridiculous. It will cost more in administration and excessive charges than the Government will reap from the scheme. Will the Government think again? The people affected built the country and they scrimped and saved for years to feed their families and to put them through school and college. Let us drop this idea.