Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What I am saying to the Senator is that it is an important step in providing health care for our young people and it is all part of our programme to move eventually towards GP cards for people up to 18 years of age.

It is important to note that the budget is a balanced one. I was talking to one person yesterday who is on an old-age pension, as is his wife. He is caring for her because she requires full-time care. He worked out that he will be €1,000 better off because of the increase in the respite grant, the increase in the pension and the increase in the fuel allowance. As a result, he feels that is important for him. It is the first step in trying to restore what we need to provide in terms of assistance to those who are retired and those who need our support otherwise. This is the first step on that road and it is a very important one. If Senator Leyden thinks we can achieve it all in one year, I note that we cannot. This is the first step on the road and there are many more that must be taken to redress what had to be done to deal with the huge growth in expenditure over a short period. We had to pay the price from 2009 on.