Press Releases
Carthy slams the “Medical Card shame of Fianna Fáil and Green Party”
19ú Bealtaine 2009
South Monaghan Sinn Féin Councillor, Matt Carthy, has this week said that the greatest shames of the Fianna Fáil and Green Party government must include the medical card scheme. Cllr. Carthy said that over the past six months he has worked with dozens of families and individuals who desperately need a medical card but can’t receive one. In the past week alone he said, he has been in contact with ten people whose medical cards and GP-visit-only cards were suddenly removed from them by the HSE without any warning.
Cllr. Carthy said that this is a result of the HSE taking almost no consideration for special circumstances and implementing the government’s guidelines to the letter.
He said: “At every General Election Fianna Fáil promise an increase in the threshold for medical cards. We heard similar promises from the Green Party. Instead we see more and more people in desperate financial situations being denied their medical cards or GP visit cards and in recent weeks a significant number having them withdrawn. The greatest scam of course is that we have Fianna Fáil TD’s and representatives from that party and the Green Party actually claiming to be assisting those seeking medical cards when it is their policies that have resulted in this situation."
“The income limits as they stand have to be a source of shame to every member of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. I know that many of their traditional supporters are just as unhappy about this as Sinn Féin members and I am asking them to express their outrage on June 5th by voting for Sinn Féin candidates in the local and European elections.”
Cllr. Carthy continued: “Behind all the figures and statistics there are real life stories of families trying to pay massive medical bills. I am also aware of people failing to receive adequate medical care simply because they cannot afford it."
“Now is the time to send a message to the government. That message must be a strong Sinn Féin mandate.”