Health: Delegates criticised the Government's performance on the health services.
Owen O'Shea, Kerry South, said of all the great litany of broken promises from the Government, the failure to extend medical-card eligibility to over 200,000 extra people was the most glaring, and an outrageous example of deceit and fraud.
"In the period during which the Irish population has increased by over 11 per cent, medical-card cover has dropped by over 8 per cent. The Minister for Health argues that the drop in medical-card numbers is the result of more people in employment since 1997. It is true that more people are at work but it is not employment that precludes a person from qualifying for a medical card. It is the stringent income limits that are imposed by the Government."
The reality, said Mr O'Shea, was that more and more people on social welfare were failing the income-limit means test while working people on modest and low incomes were above the threshold.
"A medical card is a lifeline for a person on a low or moderate income. People are not getting any healthier, not getting any wealthier. They are being hammered day in, day out by stealth taxes, increased fees."
Before the conference closed yesterday, delegates passed an emergency motion condemning the Government's decision to sell a majority stake in Aer Lingus and failing to protect and develop a vital national asset.
The motion, moved by Róisín Shortall TD, said that State control of a majority interest in Aer Lingus was essential to guaranteeing its continuation as an Irish-owned concern and the retention of the Heathrow slots.
