James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 57 together.

The Government agreed in December 2011 to address the European Court of Justice ruling of September 2011 and to work with the VHI in its application process for authorisation by the Central Bank of Ireland, CBI, subject to further Government consideration of any application for authorisation.

Despite good progress, it was not possible to authorise the VHI before the deadline of 31 December 2013 and the European Commission was notified accordingly. The Government has committed itself to continuing the work towards authorising the VHI as soon as possible and agreed that a request be made to the European Commission to extend the deadline with a commitment to seek to have the VHI authorised by the end of 2014. The VHI board has committed to this approach and expects to make its application to the Central Bank in the near future.

Its readiness for authorisation will be determined by the Central Bank of Ireland after its assessment of the VHI's application. The VHI has indicated that it expects to be in a position to self-fund any capital requirements without recourse to Exchequer funds. Officials from my Department, the VHI and the Central Bank continue to engage regularly to progress the application and my officials are also in regular contact with the European Commission regarding the authorisation and related issues.

In short, the VHI will lodge its application on Friday. Moreover, it will do so without resort to any Government or Exchequer funds, which must be welcomed. I must commend the board and its chair on turning the VHI around over the past couple of years in this regard. I also have made it clear to the VHI that its focus, particularly this year when it is renewing contracts, also must be on bringing down the cost of private health care.

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