Madam, - In the furore over the banking crisis, and now the Budget, one very relevant news item may have escaped attention.
At the end of September, Michael McGimpsey, Northern Ireland's health minister, announced that free medical prescriptions would be made available to everyone in the North by 2010. Not those over 70, not those under 16. Everyone.
Announcing the measure, the Minister said: "For the majority of the last 60 years, people here have been forced to live with an inequitable and unjust system whereby one person's suffering is ranked above another. It is simply unacceptable that those who are ill should have to worry about finding money for vital drugs which they cannot afford" ( The Irish Times, September 30th).
How is it possible that, after years of unprecedented prosperity, we in the South are still apparently incapable of recognising these principles? During the 1940s, the then Fianna Fáil government was concerned that the introduction of a National Health Service in Britain and Northern Ireland would prompt unfavourable comparisons with social welfare and health provision here. It was also feared that Northern nationalists would have little desire for reunification if it would make them materially worse off.
The call to "patriotic duty" this week is therefore particularly galling. It is to our shame that six decades later, and having surged ahead of the North in our economic fortunes, we are still looking over the Border, and to the actions of a Unionist Minister, with envy. - Yours, etc,
MARY ROGAN, G rosvenor Lodge, Rathmines, Dublin 6.
Madam, - I am a GP with a General Medical Services list of 1,959 patients. Seventy-four are what doctors call "gold cards" - ie, people who were granted medical cards on their 70th birthday. I am paid €640 a year to mind each of these people. For each of my 175 "non-gold-card", over-70-year-old patients - ie, those who already qualified for a medical card, I am paid €144 a year. For each of my 172 patients under five years of age, I am paid €79 a year.
Looking at these figures, it is not surprising that the introduction of medical cards for all over-70s has destroyed general practice in deprived areas. No young doctors, as you would expect, will work for a pittance in a deprived area when they can get vast sums for working in a middle-class area.
The extra money that the Government pays for the over-70 "gold cards" should be distributed throughout the GMS payment bands. This would ensure the return of doctors to the deprived areas of Ireland. - Yours, etc,
Dr BARRY TEELING, Darndale/Belcamp Medical, Coolock, Dublin 17.
Madam, - Congratulations to the Drs Honan and O'Hara in Portarlington (October 17th) for their constructive suggestion regarding medical cards. - Yours, etc,
JOAN HUTCHINSON, Mount Anville Wood, Dublin,14.
Madam, - How noble of Drs Honan and O'Hara to suggest that doctors should treat over-70 medical card holders for 50 per cent of their current fees (even if the reduction would be reviewed after a year). However, this would still leave doctors taking 50 per cent more from the State for seeing these people than they do for other medical card holders. Could the good doctors not have gone the extra mile and offered to treat this vulnerable age-group as if they were ordinary people? I presume it would cause total uproar if I were to dare to suggest that they might be treated for less!
On a related note, it would be interesting to know what percentage of practising doctors will be paying the new income levy at the 2 per cent rate. - Yours, etc,
TONY McCOY O'GRADY, Grangebrook Close, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Madam, - The budget and the response to the banking crisis shows how out of touch this Government is. Not one bank has correctly stated the value of the assets underpinning its loans and not one banker has been prepared to take any responsibility for the current crisis. Yet the Government has given the banks an unlimited guarantee for all their borrowings and deposits. The markets have voted no confidence in this continued state of denial.
Meanwhile, elderly people are threatened with the withdrawal of their medical cards and everyone working is hit with a tax levy. Does this Government spend no time talking to people who aren't bankers or developers? - Yours, etc,
Cllr OISÍN QUINN (Labour), Temple Villas, Rathmines, Dublin 6.
Madam, - Before the 2002 general election the Fianna Fáil-led government took two major decisions. It announced the introduction of a free medical card scheme for the over-70s. And it brought in a very generous benchmarking scheme for the public service.
As a result, Fianna Fáil, was returned to power.
The Government has now substantially dismantled the medical card scheme for the over-70s. As benchmarking never produced the promised reform and productivity, should the percentage increases awarded also be rescinded?
The public service benchmarking scheme continues to be a very costly rip-off from the taxpayer. Some might describe it as legalised state corruption. - Yours, etc,
MUIRIS HERON, Sutton, Dublin 13.
Madam, - Finally the penny drops. Would all those who voted for Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrat policies over the past 10 years and who are now moaning and complaining please shut up? - Yours, etc,
JARLATH MOLLOY, Stanford Road, London, W8.
Madam, - The reason the €200 tax on car-parking spaces in cities was targeted at employers is so that civil servants, who have thousands of free parking spaces in Dublin, are not affected. The Government, as usual, has no bottle.
We need less government, fewer civil servants, fewer TDs, fewer councillors, less bureaucracy — that's where the real waste and the real savings are to be found.
It is incredible that, after more than 10 years of the Celtic Tiger, the Government does not seem to have saved a button for a rainy day.
How we were duped last year! - Yours, etc,
CON MOLONEY, Chelmsford, Celbridge, Co Kildare.
Madam, - In trying to redress the imbalance in the public finances surely the government ought to have regard to the cost of administering its Budget changes.
It seems to me that the means tests required to determine eligibility for the over-70s medical card will involve the State in expense which will cancel out much of the benefit. Similarly, setting up systems to recover 1 per cent from people whose incomes fall below the existing tax thresholds involves needless expense in proportion to benefit. We must get ourselves out of the mess we have landed ourselves in, but please let us do it efficiently. - Yours, etc,
TONY BRADY, Fairview, Dublin 3.
Madam, - Am I the only person in Ireland who thinks the Government is correct in restricting the qualification for the over-70s medical card.
I would beg the the Irish people to wait for further information. The Government is in a very difficult position.
Admittedly, a mistake was made by Charlie McCreevy and Bertie Ahern in introducing such a ludicrous vote-catching gimmick. The people unfortunately fell for the promise and voted on the issue.
This Government is making sense. - Yours, etc,
MARGARET TURVEY, Abbey Terrace, Howth, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Surely one of the most shameful elements of the Budget is the huge increase in third-level registration fees. Since coming to power almost 12 years ago, this Government has made a number of efforts to reintroduce tuition fees for university and college courses.
This enormous increase in the college registration fee underlines its determination to make third-level education a privilege for the well-off.
For hard-working families, college fees of any kind are a blatant form of double taxation. What makes this worse is that registration fees are not subject to any form of tax relief. This Government is totally out of touch with the reality of the day-to-day lives of ordinary people.
For many families, college is not affordable as it stands. With the cost of living, accommodation, textbooks, etc, it can easily cost a family €8,000 to €10,000 a year to send a child to college. I am angry that this increase will, yet again, hit those on the margins of society hardest, and it sends out the wrong message to our young people.
Education has to be for all, regardless of means. Money should not be an issue, much less a barrier. Education is an investment in our future. Judging by the Budget and by Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe's crusade to reintroduce tuition fees, it is clear this Government is not prepared to make that investment. - Yours, etc,
Senator MICHAEL McCARTHY, Seanad Éireann, Dubin 2.
Madam, - With regard to the scrapping of the automatic entitlement of over-70s to a medical card, those affected should send the following message to the Government: "No medical card, no Lisbon Treaty". As Government leaders are all too aware, they cannot afford to "fail" again in the eyes of Europe, especially in the current economic climate. If they insist on proceeding with this travesty of justice, they should know just how steep the price is going to be. - Yours, etc,
LIZ HEFFERNAN, Fairbrook Lawn, Dublin 14.