Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

He promised largesse. There was no need to introduce it. To paraphrase Senator Callely's comments this morning, Fianna Fáil was the best thing since sliced bread for senior citizens so why did it need to introduce that? There was no need other than to buy the election. It was a cynical vote-getting exercise.

I was at the church and on Kildare Street when the protests took place. Those two events were the two most potent images of 2008. The people who attended were not cranks who were up for the craic with Christy Moore. They were not up for a day out on the bus with free passes. They attended because they were afraid and wanted to keep their medical card. They felt a genuine passion for what they wanted and, for the first time ever, they took to the streets in numbers.

I salute our senior citizens because of that. I say "well done" to them. They should not hand back their medical cards or co-operate with the Department of Health and Children. To hell with it. We have treated them badly so we must send a clear message that we must cherish all our citizens equally under the Constitution. The Government has not done so in the budget. The young, old, vulnerable, handicapped and disabled have been robbed and insulted by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats.

I know it is tough for the Minister of State and I appreciate where she is coming from. It is the reality. We could go back to the big billboards in 1987 which stated that health cuts hurt the old, the poor and the handicapped. Let us take to the streets again.