There are many aspects of the budget that remind me of the debacle of the budget introduced by the then Minister for Finance, Mr. John Bruton, when he imposed a tax on children's shoes. The cuts to older people in this budget are of the same order. Each one of us is getting older day by day and there is an increasing number of older people in society. As people get older they will have more health needs. The budget changes will leave older people struggling to pay for health care and heat in their homes. Those are the two issues on which I wish to focus. The trebling of the prescription charge from 50c to €1.50 per item on a prescription will hit the poor, the sick and the old the hardest. That increase combined with a €12 increase in the income threshold for the drugs payment scheme to €144 per month means that many more older people will struggle to pay their medicine bills.

We are not having a debate on the Order of Business.

It is a Second Stage speech.

The sharp reduction in the income thresholds for the over 70s will cause hardship and further undermine the ability of older people who will lose their medical cards as a result of the immediate health care costs. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to come to the House. It is a tragedy for older people that the Government did not appoint a dedicated Minister for older people.

We are putting an extra €150 million into the health budget.

That is the reason there is nobody to stand up for them. I am aware the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is a very good Minister but she has four or five portfolios. When Fianna Fáil is back in government, which will be soon-----

In 30 years time.

-----we will appoint a Minister for older people.

Nobody here will be alive when Fianna Fáil is back in government. They will be long dead.