Results 13,321-13,340 of 36,748 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: 487. To ask the Minister for Health the business cases and additional funding applications developed by Letterkenny University Hospital which require additional capital and revenue funding; if the business cases are with the hospital, the Saolta University Healthcare Group and HSE Estates; the status of each such project; the timeline for delivery of each project in tabular form; and if he...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I will very briefly set up the meeting if I may. As the proposer of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017, I thank the Law Reform Commission for its work on consumer insurance contracts and its report and draft legislation. I also thank the Minister of State and his officials for their engagement with me on amendments. This legislation, which will radically inform insurance contracts...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is my intention.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I suggest that we can move speedily through some of the amendments, which are quite technical, and others which are obviously needed. Some of the amendments merely comprise a reshaping of language. The same intention is there.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I am happy to accept amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 4. In accepting amendment No. 2, which brings the definition in line with the definition in the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Act 2017, I am considering whether a broader definition of small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, would be appropriate for the purposes of the Bill. The Law Reform Commission examined this issue and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I have two issues. Do the amendments provide that existing contracts will not be affected in any way by the legislation or any section within it? Amendment No. 11 also allows for the commencement of different sections. What is the Minister of State's intention in respect of the commencement of sections of the Act?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: The insurance industry is arguing for a three-year period during which it would not be enacted. Has the Department a view on how soon it can be enacted?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: What effect will the provision have on existing contracts?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: As long as it is commenced, obviously. I want to stress the urgency of commencing this Act for making sure insurance contracts are fairly balanced and that they cannot use exemptions dating back to the 1600s to avoid an insurance claim or use language that is not comprehensible for an ordinary consumer. It is important that we move quickly. I note the Minister of State's indication that he...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: There is no issue with amendment No. 13, which is a technical amendment to Schedule 2 of the Central Bank Act. On amendment No. 14, I understand that it means the ombudsman cannot rule that an insurer has to pay out, under sections 7 and 15, proportional remedies even above and beyond the normal limits that apply to the FSPO. The Minister of State might confirm if that is the correct...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: On the Minister of State's first point, is that an indication that he would be happy to withdraw the amendment that deletes sections 4 and 3(2)?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I am willing to examine this again. I favour the approach that we leave it in at this point and review it on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I am glad that the Minister of State is not amending the section. Based on the submissions, there has been pressure from insurers to amend this. At the core, where an insurer enters into a contract, it should honour that contract. Obviously, an insurer is at any time free not to insure an individual but if it does so, it should pay out on that regardless of the insurable interest. ...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: It is important to put on the record that this section is hugely important in this legislation. When it is commenced, the unfairness of a consumer having to know what is relevant and what is not when applying for a product will be ended. From that point on, the obligation will be on the insurer to ask the relevant question. It is blindingly obvious when one thinks about it and yet up to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: There many cases where claims are not being paid out because of questions posed in what the legislation would describe as plain and intelligible language. As a result, the claims are voided. This places an onus on the insurer not just to ask the question but to ask it plainly and in intelligible language, and where there is ambiguity or doubt about the meaning of a question the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: The section provides in steps the different responsibilities and obligations on an insurance company in respect of paying out a claim proportionately. Where there is a fraudulent claim where somebody deliberately misrepresents their claim, there is no requirement to pay but where the misrepresentation is innocent or negligent, there are requirements to pay out claims in certain regards. For...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is what the legislation states. This amendment reshapes the language as opposed to changing any of its substance.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine. I am happy with that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: This amendment has the effect of deleting section 8. It is highly technical, as we have heard from the Minister of State, but the consumer protection code is not on a legislative footing and that creates some grey areas in respect of consumer protection. We should use this Bill to enhance as much as possible, and to put into primary legislation, consumer protection and transparency issues....