Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment to the Order of Business tabled by Senator Marc MacSharry. Senator John Kelly is so concerned about the medical card issue that he could support the amendment and have the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, come to the House. It is quite outrageous that a German consultancy firm has been brought in to weed out the applicants and refuse medical cards. The system is being run badly. I am dealing with a case, where the documents provided by the applicant have gone missing and the constituent was informed that the documents were never received, even though the applicant had sent the documents in a registered letter. I am advising all medical card applicants to register and have recorded correspondence with the HSE. I think the documentation is being lost on purpose to delay any approvals in the future. It is a serious situation and is causing great distress.

I support the call by Senators van Turnhout and Naughton in regard to the outrageous situation in Nigeria. The Boko Haram organisation has kidnapped 276 bright intelligent young women. That is a crime against humanity. I know the Americans are sending support to try to locate these young women but I think the world should be mobilised to find them and return them to their families. The issue has dropped from the main headlines. There is more concern in the media about internal party political issues than about this issue. The kidnapping of these girls should be highlighted every day. Furthermore, I condemn the Egyptian Government and the judicial system for condemning 500 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death by hanging. That is an outrageous proposal. This will set Egypt on a course of conflict worse than has been seen before. The Egyptian Government must have no regard for a proper judicial system to allow a judge to convict more than 500 young men to death by hanging. I hope the Government will take action in this regard.