Fianna Fáil’s Deputy Robert Troy has slammed the move to cut medical cards by Minister Reilly as a “shameless betrayal by one of the most shameless ministers to ever sit at Cabinet”.
Deputy Troy says that 35,000 over 70s “have been betrayed by Minister Reilly as well as 1,100 other card holders which the Minister has officially launched an attack on”.
“He is robbing grandparents so he can give free GP care to their grandchildren. It is utterly cynical and deplorable and sadly all too expected from this appalling Minister. Budget 2014 confirmed our fears as it mounted the Government’s offensive against people with medical cards.”
Deputy Troy says the Government is also hitting under 70s by planning to make cuts of over €113 million in alleged ‘probity’ measures targeted at those under 70.
“This classic Civil Service phrase is quite simply code for taking cards away from people. We have already seen 1,100 discretionary cards per month taken away so far in 2013. However, this new target of saving €113 million will likely see more than a hundred thousand additional people lose their cards working on the basis that the average cost per card is €1,000.
