Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

Everybody over 70 genuinely thought they would lose their medical card but that was never going to be the case, with 215,000 still qualifying. A further 85,000 were going to get either a full medical card or a doctor-only card. We were going to give a cash payment to those who did not qualify for a card towards the cost of their health expenses.

Having reviewed that plan, in light of the public reaction and following consultations with the IMO, we decided to forget about the cash payment and to raise the income thresholds instead. It was always our intention to help older people, up to the 5% cut-off point, with the cost of their general medical services, their general practitioner or their drug costs.