David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am talking about the universal supports or the total health cover which is being removed. The point is that the Government promised people that they would have free GP care and universal health cover. That simply has not happened.

It is disappointing that the Minister for Health is not present today because he has an interesting track record on this, which is worth recalling for Members. Approximately ten years ago the Minister was the head of the Irish Medical Organisation's GP section.

When he held that position, he robustly opposed the decision of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government to extend medical cards, without means tests, to people over the age of 70. That was fair enough because that was the approach he adopted. On the other hand, however, he then negotiated a very generous deal for GPs to treat people over 70. At the time of the next general election, the Minister was Opposition spokesperson on health and he took a completely different position. He denounced from a height the decision of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party and then adopted a completely different position again and supported it. He appears to have changed his mind again and is altering the criteria for people over the age of 70 once more.

I do not believe that this sits well with the programme for Government or the reforms this Administration promised in respect of health care. I referred earlier to the commitment relating to universal primary health care. Perhaps the Minister of State might provide some indication of when the latter may become a reality. We do not believe it will emerge within the lifetime of the current Government. However, we may be proved wrong in that regard. The programme for Government states:

Access to primary care without fees will be extended in the first year to claimants of free drugs under the Long-Term Illness Scheme at a cost of ¤17 million.
Access to primary care without fees will be extended in the second year to claimants of free drugs under the High-Tech Drugs scheme at a cost of ¤15 million.
Access to subsidised care will be extended to all in the next phase.

The Minister for Health stated that the first of these three goals was to be achieved in the summer of 2012. However, it has still not been realised. All of these promises were made and the Minister indicated that he would reform the system. If there was an Olympic medal for mental acrobatics, he would, in light of his track record, win it hands down. People have seen through both the Minister and the promises that were made in the context of what has been delivered in the area of health. Perhaps that is one of the reasons the Taoiseach has decided to take a more hands-on approach to health care.

Senator Gilroy referred to the Opposition being blind. The best way to judge that will be when the results of today's by-election come to hand. People's eyes have been opened. When the votes are counted tomorrow, we will see exactly who is blind and which parties are being judged to be acting blindly.