Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I am pleased to be in the House to discuss this issue. I am sure most Members of the House have been awake all night watching the unfolding events in the world's oldest democracy, which are very exciting not only for the United States of America but for the entire democratic world and possibly beyond.

It is a pleasure to be in the House again to discuss the issue of medical cards. In recent years the number of people with medical cards has grown substantially — the growth rate has been one of the highest since the introduction of the medical card scheme. In October 2004 there were 1,150,000 people with medical cards and in October 2008 that number had increased to 1.338 million, more than 200,000 additional people now have access to their doctor and to medication free of charge under the general medical scheme.

Next year, notwithstanding the economic pressures we face, the general medical scheme will increase by approximately 14%. The scheme is increasing rapidly for two reasons, including new innovations on the market and new drugs being made available to Irish patients. I saw a programme on BBC last night about this matter. In Britain many medications are not made available to citizens and an issue has arisen there about whether the UK National Health Service will provide services to those patients who can afford to buy medication. The relevant UK Secretary of State made some changes in that regard. The position in Ireland is different. New innovations and new medication are made available to citizens through the general medical services scheme, refunded through the drug payment scheme for those who do not qualify for a medical card, and are available in hospitals when patients are being treated.

The general medical services scheme is increasing as a percentage of the public health budget by more than 1% per year. When I became Minister for Health and Children the general medical services scheme cost approximately 11% of the total public health budget. In 2008 it will be 18% of the total health budget. Therefore, it is an increasing proportion of the budget. In the context of the 2009 budget and Estimates, which were taken together this year because of emerging economic difficulties, the Department of Health and Children was required for budgetary reasons to make savings in the order of €700 million over and above what was planned for 2009.