David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

He can say it is a fact, but all pensioners are entitled to a medical card as of right because they paid their taxes. That is now being means tested, albeit in a measure brought in by Fianna Fáil before the current Government reduced the thresholds. That means medical cards are being taken away from people who have them. They had universal health care and full cover, and now many of them will not have cover. The argument being made is that these people can afford to pay for health care. In my view, that moves away from the principle of universality. The Minister of State made the point well that we pay taxes to make sure that people get education and yet we do not argue that education should be means tested. Why then should we apply the same principle to health care, if it is a fundamental right?

When this was first brought in by the previous Government, we argued that once a threshold was set at €900, it was always going to change and be revised downwards to €800, €700, €600 and €500. What is the acceptable level? Will it go down to €400? Will it be €300? That is the difficulty we have with all these measures. Once they are introduced, it becomes a slippery slope and more people start losing their cards. Senator Gilroy made the point on Second Stage that €500 is a significant amount of money for a pensioner who should be able to pay for medical expenses, but the same argument was made about €700, €800 and €900. So if we go to €300 next year, are we then saying that €300 is an acceptable amount of money to be means tested?

Age Action Ireland is concerned about this. The parliament which represents older people has expressed its opposition. I could remind the Minister of State of the protests that old age pensioners had in 2008 outside the Dáil, at which his party leader spoke and at which the Taoiseach spoke. They clearly said that what was happening was wrong and should not be happening, yet that is exactly what is happening in this Bill. The Government cannot walk away from that. It is exactly what Fianna Fáil were doing. I cannot understand why the Minister of State's head is shaking because there is no change-----