David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

Yesterday the Minister for Health announced cuts in the health budget that will remove 1,000 hospital beds from the public service, 40 nursing homes are to close and a €50 charge is to be imposed on those on medical cards. This will be a €50 charge on the less well-off in society. It is a charge on sick persons. It will present many who need treatment from getting it. The Government promised to protect those on social welfare. It is at pains to point out that the social welfare rates themselves will not be cut, but imposing a €50 charge on those with medical cards is the same as taking money from the rates because it will impact on those on social welfare.

There is a wealth of information about what will be in the budget. As I stated yesterday, it is madness that every day we wake up there is more information being presented and put into the public domain by Ministers about what is in the budget. Parliamentarians in Germany were discussing what is in the budget, and yet here in this House we are not being given the opportunity to do so.