I am sorry the Minister is not present. Perhaps his colleague will convey my message to him. The elderly living in the Dublin South Central constituency are unhappy with the way they are treated by the Government. Not only do they have to try to live on miserably low pensions but anyone lucky enough to have a small pension from a job finds it is taxable while the Government give millionaire tax dodgers a tax amnesty.
The Government ought to be ashamed of the way they treat senior citizens many of whom have medical cards. They have to wait five months for replacement spectacles. What way is this for the Government to treat senior citizens? I call on the Government to provide additional funds to reduce the waiting times and ultimately abolish them. In the overall context of the health service this issue might seem like a relatively small problem but it is not for those affected. In the case of pensioners, the delay affects their health and safety.
Because of financial shortages the Eastern Health Board decided it can only authorise a limited number of applications for optical benefit each week. There is a waiting list of 19 weeks for people waiting for benefit. Those hit by the delays are pensioners who may accidentally break their spectacles and need replacement or repairs. It is a serious matter to leave pensioners with poor sight without spectacles for so long. Not only may they be unable to read or watch television, they could have difficulty going out. They may not see traffic and other obstacles. I note that the Minister of State wears spectacles. Anyone wearing spectacles knows that their quality of life is affected when they are deprived of them.
First time applicants for glasses are experiencing even longer delays as they have to establish eligibility before they are put on the health board's waiting list. The claims made by the Minister for Health, Deputy Howlin, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Spring, during the recent election campaign about the success of the Labour Party in reducing waiting lists in the health services, sound very hollow to the elderly, the pensioners and the vulnerable in society who have to wait up to 19 weeks to have their glasses replaced or repaired. The Minister for Health should make a special allocation to the Eastern Health Board so that this waiting list can be eliminated and people can have their glasses repaired or replaced without undue delay. This is a very minor request. The Minister must get his priorities right.
In the previous debate reference was made to the hundreds of millions of pounds being spent on hospitals and the health services, yet the Government cannot even guarantee fair play for elderly medical card holders who are forced to face unnecessary danger in their day-to-day lives due to these long waiting lists. I hope the Minister responds in a positive way to the serious problems being experienced by so many vulnerable and insecure pensioners.