Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Following the line of questioning on the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland, MIBI, and following a series of parliamentary questions I submitted to the Minister on this issue, we were told the claims of third parties could and would be met. However, from the point of view of those with an outstanding claim, there seems to be a great deal of confusion in this regard. Let us look at the reality. We need to be mindful that we are talking about catastrophic injuries, deaths and people who have lost loved ones. The timeframe in dealing with these claims is an issue. In response to a parliamentary question on 18 June I was told the Department of Finance had had a meeting with the MIBI on 11 June to discuss the issue of Setanta Insurance and that it had informed the Department it expected legal certainty in the following weeks. What does that mean? What is the current position and when can persons awaiting claims to be processed to have certainty? We need to check what is happening in this regard.

The European Union has the European Food Safety Authority, but what do we have as its equivalent for financial products and passporting? How do we protect consumers? Mr. Sheridan cautioned against having regulations specific to the Irish market because we operated in a European context. However, is he aware of any country that has domestic regulations to ensure this would not happen again?

My other question-----