Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

This proposal is completely unacceptable to the Labour Party. It shows that the Government is possessed of such overweening arrogance that it believes it can introduce changes of such significance without being accountable to anyone. We are being asked to make five-minute contributions on issues relating to health insurance.

The legislation is being steamrolled through the House. The changes proposed by the Government will increase the costs for subscribers, particularly those who are members of the VHI. It is important to note that the steamroller is being driven by the Progressive Democrats. The latter party is determining health policy. It is all about profit now and is no longer about patient care. Proposals relating to private hospitals have been rammed through and changes relating to health insurance, which will ensure that people will, unnecessarily, be obliged to pay more, will also be rammed through. The change proposed by the Government undermines the case it won so handsomely in the courts in respect of risk equalisation. It will put at risk the position of the Government in respect of the appeal to the Supreme Court.

This Administration has lost all sense of being accountable to the people. It is important that a challenge should be offered in respect of these issues, which are being ideologically driven by the Progressive Democrats wing of the Government. We are concerned about the future of the VHI, about plans for privatisation and about the impact of the proposed changes on people who take out insurance with the company. If anything, we have been presented with the strongest argument yet that there should be a fundamental review of health insurance in order that a universal system might be introduced.

We are challenging——

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