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THE GOVERNMENT can take little credit for its crass handling of the decision to deny 70-year-olds an automatic right to medical cards. It has slightly altered the income threshold, yet it says it is "standing firm". Societal decisions are being made on the run, with one eye on the haranguing Government TDs can expect when they return to their constituencies this weekend.

One of the principles of good social policy is to reassure the vulnerable and to buttress citizens when they leave the workforce or are discommoded through illness or frailty. The research shows that many older people lead happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. However, for others there is illness, insecurity and fear for the future. A civilised society would strive to allay such distress, if for nothing else than respect for those who lived through the decades when Ireland had a limp economy and little social justice.