LOBBYING:LOBBY GROUPS working with the elderly are mounting a campaign to get the Government to reverse its budget decision on limiting access to medical cards for the over-70s.
Tadgh Daly, chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland, the representative group for the private and voluntary nursing homes sector, condemned the new arrangement, saying it had caused unprecedented distress among older people.
"To remove the entitlement to a medical card, which many of our residents rely on and which they have already contributed to through their PRSI payments throughout their working lives, is simply not acceptable."
Mr Daly also said the €400 cash payment being suggested by Government would not compensate the removal of medical-card entitlements for those over-70.
"For a resident with a medical dependency requiring a monthly visit from their GP, the cost, at an average GP cost of €60 per visit, is €720 per annum, nearly twice as much as the Government suggested cash payment. And that is before medical prescription costs or other needs, such as physiotherapy, are even considered."
St Vincent de Paul vice-president Prof John Monaghan said: "The removal . . . is as ill-considered as the shambles around the introduction of the card was in 2001, and will cause considerable worry to people at the latter stages of their life; this is cruel."
• A number of protest rallies and public meetings are planned for next week.
Age Action will hold a public meeting on Tuesday at 11am at the O'Callaghan Alexander Hotel in Dublin, while the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament will hold a rally outside Dáil Éireann on Wednesday at 12.30pm.