David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to propose an amendment to the Order of Business, calling on the Minister for Health to come to the House today to discuss the health service generally, the reform of the health service and the medical card eligibility scandal. People are having their medical cards taken from them for all sorts of reasons.

The reality is that this Government promises reform in the health service. It promised us the abolition of the HSE and free GP care for all, which is a bit of a sick joke when one considers that since it came into office, it has taken free GP care from people who already have it by taking their medical cards. The Government promised universal health insurance, yet that has not been delivered. Where is universal health insurance? It promised reform of mental health services and we have not seen that. All we have had from this Government in terms of health care is cutback after cutback. In the last budget, €750 million was taken from the health budget and we saw the consequences of that in hospitals throughout the country.

Over recent days, we have seen the most reprehensible and cruellest of all the cuts. This was taking medical cards from cancer patients. That is truly reprehensible. I dealt with 14 cases in Waterford involving people whose medical cards were taken off them. I am sure there are thousands of people throughout the State who are losing their medical cards, yet the Minister talks about free GP care for all when he is stripping people of their entitlements. All we are getting is cutback after cutback. Yes, the Minister will attend the House next week to discuss a very important Bill that I will support but I want the Minister to come in to discuss his failure in respect of the health service because that is what it is. He talked tough and promised a lot, but he simply has not delivered. Those cuts are having a very serious impact on families, individuals and patients across the State and we need the Minister to come to the House to account for his failures in the health service.