Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Before I speak on the Bill, as I am not standing in the upcoming general election, I would like to say a few words of farewell to the House. I thank the Ceann Comhairle and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and all Members of the House of all parties for the courtesy they have extended to me during debates in the House. I thank the electorate of Dublin North-East who elected me to the House and whom I have had the honour of serving in this Dáil. They previously elected me to the 27th Dáil, from 1992 to 1997. I had a break in between and I was glad of the opportunity to come back here again. I believe I represented my constituents in both of those terms to the best of my ability. I thank my Labour Party colleagues, both inside and outside this House, for their support and friendship. I believe the Labour Party in this Dáil has made a valuable contribution to restoring the economy and ensuring people are now back at work. The improving economy is bearing fruit and we need to thank the electorate for their forbearance in the measures that had to be taken to restore the economy. I look forward to restoring the things we had to take away. I accept it was painful for many people during that period. I also thank my staff, my parliamentary assistant, Tom Cosgrave, and my secretarial assistant, Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh, for the work they have done. I wish them every success as well.

The purpose of this legislation is to require medical practitioners engaged in practice to provide evidence that they hold an adequate level of insurance. The reason for this is that there is currently no legal obligation on a medical practitioner to have adequate medical indemnity insurance cover. I find it hard to believe that this is still the case and the question needs to be asked how it has been overlooked for so long. I am pleased that the matter is now being dealt with finally as some patients may be unable to seek redress in the event of negligent care from a medical practitioner, which we referred to earlier in this debate. Medical negligence is, thankfully, not commonplace but it does happen and there is an obligation on us, as legislators, to ensure people are protected.

Under the legislation a minimum level of indemnity will be set for various classes of medical practitioners by the Medical Council, which will consult the State Claims Agency and other relevant parties to set these minimum levels. A medical practitioner will only require indemnity if he or she falls within a class of medical practitioners specified as requiring that indemnity. The Bill should not require medical practitioners to pay more than what would be the normal adequate indemnity cover for their medical practice. If a medical practitioner is not engaged in medical practice and poses no possible risk to others relating to that practice, there is no legal obligation on him or her to have medical indemnity cover. An example of this would be a medical practitioner who is working full-time as an academic.

There are no additional costs to the Exchequer resulting from this Bill, although there will be costs incurred by the Medical Council of Ireland which must implement the requirements under the legislation. This is because the Medical Council is the regulator. Estimated additional costs to the council are in the region of €200,000, and I understand this will be spent to a large degree on updates to its IT system which will be needed as a result of this legislation.

I commend the legislation to the House. It is well overdue that such medical indemnity is in place and I am pleased that patients will be protected in the event of medical negligence occurring in the future.

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