Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Needless to say, we will vehemently oppose this Bill on the basis that we should always be able to extend ourselves for the relative security and protection of the vulnerable and the elderly. While I know the Minister of State was a very welcome and excellent colleague in this House at the time, it is impossible to consider this legislation without assessing the response of the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and others who are in government now in terms of their narrative at the time that a much more generous eligibility criteria was being considered. I recall people in the Opposition almost fighting with one another to get up on the truck on Kildare Street outside Leinster House to speak to the very considerable number of elderly people who had gathered in protest at what was a wrong initiative by the then Government in terms of adjusting the eligibility criteria. There was a row-back from that position, as we know, to an eligibility limit of some €1,400 for a couple and half of that for an individual.

The Minister, Deputy Reilly, was the player with the starring role among the Opposition at that time. He said:

...those are the people who made this country what it is today ... They raised us, nursed us when we were sick, protected us from violence, grew our food and ran a proud Civil Service. This decision is morally wrong and the people of the country know it.

At that time, 2008, the now Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, spoke on the lorry outside about how people had protested for civil liberties in the 1960s, for tax equalisation in the 1980s and were now rightly protesting for fair eligibility for medical cards. The current Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, said, "Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you", and that was in regard to a more generous eligibility criteria of some €1,400 at the time.

On top the 20,000 cards that were taken away over the course of this year due to the budgets, and even though the Taoiseach has lately said no more than 3% would be affected by any change to the criteria, which would be only some 11,000 cards in total, the reality is that in the region of 35,000 people over the age of 70 are set to lose their cards. One wonders what has changed. In the House earlier we were celebrating the relatively welcome development of Forbes highlighting Ireland as one of the best places in the world to do business, according to its metrics and tables, and both sides of the House acknowledged the encouraging signs in terms of employment and also income tax returns, of which I spoke earlier today. The net gain to Government of this measure is some €25 million in savings, although we are €520 million ahead of schedule up to November, at a time when no more than one sixth of our total tax take is catered for. Despite these surpluses, I acknowledge we are coming from a very low base and that there is debt we would like to eat into, which we will be able to do next week with the benefit of Bank of Ireland giving us back €2 billion. Surely, however, when there is some leeway, figures can be adjusted and we can look at this and decide that, while we know we must make savings, this will bite hard, so let us look at not doing it. Let us say: "We will be able to take this €25 million from another area because the relative health and protection of those over 70 is extremely important to us."

As I said, in 2008 the then Opposition participated in the anger and the narrative of the justifiable protests of the day, at a time when the limit was €1,400 per week. Now, it is down to €900 and, in effect, we are going to crystallise a discriminatory measure in this Bill whereas, historically, the practice has always been that if it was €700 for an individual, it was twice that for a couple, which is €1,400. Instead, this time it will be €500 for an individual but €900 for a couple, thus discriminating against those people who happen to be lucky enough to have a loving relationship in a marriage for a lifetime. One wonders why this is the case.

I appreciate this is all about the fight for resources. We had a good debate in the House last night on mental health, always the poor relation, I would argue, in terms of the cuts, in that when it comes to the budget, that is money to be ring-fenced until such time as it is needed, but we then pull it out again and it is no longer ring-fenced. When it comes to the less well-off, the over-70s and children, we really ought to be prepared to push that boat out a little further, particularly given the information coming our way in the last week is encouraging in terms of additional resources becoming available.

There is an element of gimmickry on the issue of the under-fives. I have children under five who will get free GP care, and, of course, I will take it. However, should I be eligible for it? No, I probably should not as I am on €65,000 a year. A very small percentage of the public service is on that kind of wage, and some are on significantly more than that, not least the Minister of State, officials and so on. This is the case throughout the country. We have often mentioned known wealthy people and, in jest, said we do not want to be providing free GP care to people who have many millions, and so on. I am not sure we have the element of joined-up thinking and the whole-health service approach for which the Minister of State would probably yearn, although I realise there are a lot of difficulties within that.

I believe this measure is wrong. If we read back and assess the responses at the time of the then Opposition, I believe what they said was justified at that time and is no less justified today, except from a financial position. The Minister of State will recall that at the time, although I was finance spokesman in this House, I would not hold back when it came to criticising my own Government, particularly on health matters. We have a different set of financial circumstances now that are arguably much stronger than they were at the time. If one wanted to be party political about it, those opposite will say it is all because of their great work over the past two and a half years, which would be a bit naive on the basis that the late Brian Lenihan took major decisions at the time.

It is Second Stage. This is something we do not have to do. The figures ought to allow, in a discussion with the Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Howlin, that the Government should not have to do this, in particular given the more positive situation. This is notwithstanding the unpublished Labour Party policy of looking at those earning an income of over €100,000, who were conditioned over the last two budgets to give a little bit more but were not touched. Those people could still give a little more. For the relative health and security of our elderly and our children, that could and should be done.