Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking to the amendment. In speaking to the amendment, I note the strategy will be based on competing private health insurance companies and will represent the effective privatisation of the health services. That is my certain view. I believe the strategy has no basis in rights since it contains no commitment that patients will be guaranteed in law by the State to receive basic essential health care.

Instead the strategy relies totally on regulation of the insurance industry, in this case, mainly by the legislation before us. Against that backdrop the purpose of my amendment is to set down a marker for citizens and for the insurance companies on the imperative for the State to ensure that all persons receive in due time and to the highest standard possible health services on the basis of need and not on the basis of the ability to pay.

We would follow on from this amendment, if circumstances presented, with separate rights based legislation putting in place a rights basis for health care. In the absence of the principle recognised in my amendment and its reinforcement in rights based legislation, which I would wish to see adopted, we face a scenario where under the Government's plan private insurance companies would be given too great a role in determining the level of basic health care services available to citizens. That is the reality. The health insurance companies will be significant in determining the level of health care services accessible to the wider public. During the 14 year regime of Fianna Fáil in office, the then Government promised to introduce an eligibility for health and personal social services Bill, which the Minister will remember well because he and I repeatedly requested information on the progress of that Bill. As we know, it never saw the light of day, nor does it appear now even in the vaguest context in promised legislation.

The IMPACT trade union published an important report analysing the Government's proposed reforms which concludes the Government has based its approach to universal health insurance on policy in the Netherlands. A system of competing private insurers in the Netherlands has created an inequitable and an inefficient system of funding health care with different tiers of entitlement. In the context of the Minister's proposed Bill, how will that be prevented from happening here?

My simple amendment puts down a marker. I believe it is a critically important marker about our future intent. I ask the Minister to adopt it and indicate positively that robust rights based legislation will follow in speedy succession. I urge support for this amendment as a start to that programme of work.