Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like the previous speaker, I support the Bill. I would like to ensure a few matters are covered. We all know, from all different walks of life and business, people must have insurance and indemnities. Long ago, when we were young and able to play football, if we got an injury such as a busted eye we could go to the local doctors and they sewed us up quickly. Nowadays, with insurance and indemnities, many medical practitioners are becoming fearful of performing such procedures.

I fully agree with Deputy Ó Caoláin's statement that what happened in Drogheda and all around the country is unacceptable. People should have insurance to cover the wrongs that were done. However, we must also ensure that we do not price ourselves out of the market in insurance. The Minister of State said public doctors were fully covered and indemnified by the State and did not need insurance. Around the country, people would go to a private doctor. While there must be insurance, is there a risk that insurance could be driven up? Insurance costs on all sides of business are increasing. Is it accounted for? Have we ensured we will not make it unreachable for some people?

I refer back to what I said about a youngster having a busted eye sewn up. Those doctors and medical practitioners must have insurance. Will insurance costs increase for doctors who might stitch a wound or remove a wart and make it unworkable for a rural GP in a small area, be it Donegal, Cork or elsewhere? Will it prevent doctors from doing such work and thus put more pressure on accident and emergency services? We must ensure that when we do something, we do it right.

I support the Bill. I have seen the denials that happened over the years and I welcome the fact the Minister of State is bringing this forward. As Deputy Ó Caoláin said, I hope it passes before the day of reckoning comes for us, in the not too distant future.

There have been problems with the allowances for rural GPs here and there around the country. I urge the Minister of State, the HSE and the Minister to ensure people have access to local GPs around the country. They are being refused the rural GP allowance here and there, and it is causing problems. It must be addressed. If these things happen, people will leave areas and there will be no doctors in areas. I welcome the Bill. I ask the Minister of State to address the issues I raised and give us the comfort of ensuring she has balanced it as well as possible. We all agree there must be proper insurance in place.

The other side of it is that we need to start looking at what is and is not reasonable with regard to insurance in the whole medical spectrum and in many other areas. I know from being in business that if one draws down the insurance, it will get more and more expensive. If claims are going higher and higher, someone has got to pay because it all comes out of one big bag of money. It is all right to talk, but if claims keep going through the roof as some of them are at present, someone somewhere will have to pay and insurance costs will continue to rise. Everyone has to be looked after properly. I am not saying that people do not need to be looked after properly. I fully believe that everyone should be compensated properly for the wrongs that are done, but there comes a stage between what is covered properly and what goes beyond that. We need to make sure we look at that because if we fail to do so, at the end of the day the people will end up paying for the medical practitioner, the surgeon or the State. We need to make sure we cover that as well.

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