Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I join the Cathaoirleach and Leader in wishing Jim Kelly every success on his retirement and thank him for the work he has done in the Houses during his time here.

One of the outcomes of last night's benchmarking debate, of which there are probably many, was the Minister for Finance's complete turnaround in adopting the position of the Fine Gael Party that the work of verification groups should come under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. What order will the Minister make or will there be a change in the legislation to provide for full disclosure of the discussions that take place within the verification groups? The public has a right to know what is going on behind closed doors.

Last week a Mr. Ross – I understand he is no relation to the illustrious Member from Trinity College – took a case to the Equality Tribunal regarding age discrimination after he was refused a quotation from a car insurance company. Does the Leader agree that there should be a thorough investigation of the insurance and pension industry to ensure that this age discrimination, which was shown to have occurred in the case before the Equality Tribunal last week, is not evident in other areas of this sector? Mr. Ross is to be congratulated on the stance he has taken on behalf of the many elderly people in this country. He was rightly awarded compensation and I congratulate him on that. I also congratulate the Equality Authority. It has been the recipient of a considerable amount of flak in the years since its establishment but it supported Mr. Ross in bringing his case. He took on the big guys and he won. Many pensioners owe him a debt of gratitude for that.