John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will leave others to judge if I am grandstanding. Part of the problem of the culture of secrecy in Irish medicine is that when Irish doctors, whose instinct is to be honest when something happens, try to be honest, they are immediately advised by the administrators in the hospital and by the lawyers to shut up. That is what happens. Therefore, the problem regarding the lack of transparency when accidents happen is usually caused by the administration.

I have some specific questions for the Medical Protection Society, MPS. I would like to pay tribute to the MPS. It is a non-profit organisation and any doctor who has ever needed its services realises that at a time which can be the loneliest in one's professional career, it is good to have friends like them on one's side. I thank the society for all the work it has done for Irish doctors.

I have two questions for Mr. Kayll. First, what is the justification for increasing the premium of somebody who has worked all of their career with a mixed public-private practice, but then, perhaps in order to take early retirement, becomes a full-time private practitioner, and only sees private patients in the same place as they always saw patients? What is the justification of increasing it not by a couple of per cent but fivefold? This is happening. People who were paying €10,000 per year for medical malpractice cover from MPS when they had large private practices as part of a mixed practice, suddenly find when they become full-time private practitioners that their premium is increased. Can it be backed up by actuaries that their risk increases fivefold or are they in fact cross-subsidising some other part of the medical risk pie? It looks to me as if they are.