SF deputy earning €100,000 kept using his free medical card

A SINN FÉIN TD who kept his medical card after being elected to the Dáil said yesterday he was in the process of getting private health insurance.

Deputy Martin Ferris earns more than a €100,000 annually. His medical card was granted when he was unemployed.

But despite the fact he's been earning six figures since his North Kerry election in June, he used his medical card to get a free 35 flu injection last month. Deputy Ferris said he was told by the Southern Health Board he could keep the card, that allows his free visits to GPs, prescribed medication and hospital care, after his success in the general election.

Long-term unemployed people who begin working again are entitled to a medical card for three years to prevent them from falling into the poverty trap. But Department of Health officials said this scheme was never

intended for those on high incomes.

Even though he can hold on to the card until 2005, he applied to take out Voluntary Health Insurance (VHI) last week, a spokesperson for Deputy Ferris said yesterday.

In the majority of cases only people who earn less than 132 each week, and those aged over 70, get free health care. A quarter of the population has neither a medical card nor private health insurance. Mr Ferris' party and Dáil colleague Seán Crowe recently called for the scheme to be extended to those on low incomes.

Mr Ferris has earned more than €30,000 since he was elected and he receives several financial perks such as overnight allowances and mileage on top of his €71,800 salary. This pushes his annual earnings past €100,000. And Charlie McCreevy's decision to increase public service pay under the benchmarking report means Mr Ferris' basic salary will soon pass the €80,000 mark.

Earlier this year Mr Ferris was questioned by gardaí over alleged vigilante activities in North Kerry. He has

always denied these allegations.

Describing himself as a former fisherman, he has worked on a voluntary basis for Sinn Féin since he was

released from jail in 1994 after serving 10 years for gun-running. He helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Ferris was elected to Kerry Council in 1999 and he also stood unsuccessfully in the European Parliament elections that year.

The Ardfert-based TD also ran for the North Kerry in the 1997 General Election but failed to win.