Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister, who is always prepared to come to the House to answer questions. It is fair to acknowledge that the announcement in the budget in respect of medical cards was poorly thought out. I thank the Minister for reviewing the position and for getting the balance right. We upset many older people who provided the country with wonderful service in the past. I take this opportunity to apologise for causing any hurt or concern to these people, some of whom may be vulnerable, not in the best of health or whatever. If one makes a mistake, there is nothing better one can do than acknowledge that fact.

Older people have given the country great service and have been loyal supporters of those in the political arena. Regardless of the parties they favour, it is these individuals who come out to vote. They are very important to us as public representatives.

I welcome this debate because it highlights the issues that exist. Like Senator Quinn, I am of the view that we must address the economic situation. The Minister was faced with an unenviable job in the context of putting together a departmental budget and setting down parameters relating thereto within which she could work. When she was faced with trying to make the system fairer, which she has done, she again had to try to find savings. She is working within the economic structures and I do not consider that a rowing back in any way. We are listening to what people say. When people came to the gates of Leinster House to object to what we were doing, we said we were listening and we cared. It is important we did that.

We urgently need to highlight volunteerism. Many older people have retired early. They could make a huge contribution to various parts of our community. It behoves us to have organisations that would approach these people and tell them they can make a difference by making that contribution. Retired teachers, bank managers and so forth could become involved in volunteerism. It plays a major role in every aspect of life in this country through involvement with the GAA, soccer teams, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other organisations.

The expansion of health services has been enormous over the years. I spent eight years as a member of a health board and I can see the improvement in the standard of the services. More than 10,000 older people receive services in the home. This is a huge and important part of delivering services to older people. It is the most economical option as it keeps people out of nursing homes. A total of 53,000 people receive home help, with 700,000 more hours of home help being provided since 2005. These are huge improvements in the health service.

All of this costs money. We must ensure, within the parameters of what we can afford in the budget, that we are getting value for money. That is most important, now more than ever. Every euro squandered will put somebody on the live register. I feel sorry for people such as the young person on €40,000 per year with two children and a wife who is probably not working. They cannot acquire a medical card. It was important the Minister took action. The 5% will probably help to include people who become unemployed. We hope the unemployment will not continue for too long. It is a huge drag on our economy. A total of €19 billion is being spent on unemployment at present.

We must recognise our situation. Senator Quinn is correct that we must live within the parameters of what we can afford, and the Minister is trying to do that. I welcome what she is doing with the health service generally. However, it is time to examine the Health Service Executive. The HSE has been working for the past four and a half years. I do not believe it is working correctly. The Minister will have to regionalise it and make it more meaningful to people who use the services, which is not the case at present. The Minister is regionalising the BreastCheck service but she should regionalise the other parts of the health service and make them more relevant to the local people who use them. That should be done sooner rather than later.