Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Hoctor, to the House and compliment her on the great work she is doing as Minister of State with responsibility for older people. Everyone in Leinster House was deeply affected by the reaction of older people in Ireland to the proposed abolition of the medical card. The response of older people was like a tsunami overwhelming the country. As Fianna Fáil spokesperson on older people, in drawing up my document, A New Approach to Ageing and Ageism, I came to realise that older people in Ireland felt ignored and neglected. During the week I gave the example of there being no free breast screening after the age of 64 and no free cervical screening after the age of 60.

Older people have put themselves on the map, as it were. I look forward to the day when the economy comes right and I am confident the Taoiseach and his Cabinet are on a mission to show they can get this country on its feet again. I hope in a short time we will be able to reintroduce free medical cards for everyone over 70.

At a conference on older people three years ago I asked Professor Des O'Neill, professor of gerontology in Tallaght Hospital, how valuable the free medical card was to older people. I was questioning how valuable it was and I asked him whether it was worthwhile that everyone had it. He answered that the transformation in older people's lives had been beyond belief. We all felt at that time that it was not seriously intended that everyone would get one, if the Minister of State, Deputy Hoctor, knows what I mean. Professor O'Neill said it was a tremendous move.

I will be pushing for the restoration of the medical card for those over 70.