Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, to the House. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this legislation. I read many of the speeches which were made in the Lower House. I have also read the Bill and the submissions which were made available by the Irish Haemophilia Society. I have listened to the families of those who were infected by the contaminated blood products. The substantive part of this Bill puts in place an insurance scheme for people who contracted hepatitis C and HIV from contaminated blood products. The need to establish this life assurance scheme, as well as the earlier compensation tribunal for people infected through blood products administered by the State, stems from an enormously distressing chapter in Irish medical history. The shock and horror of those who contracted the diseases in question, through no fault of their own, will never be forgotten. The State is obliged to do everything in its power to help the people in question.

The insurance issue is the kernel of the Bill. Those who were infected experience many medical and associated difficulties. They also encounter problems when doing things many of us would take for granted, for example trying to obtain insurance or mortgage protection. Such problems are faced by many of the victims. The Bill will cover two categories of people — those who can get insurance but at an increased premium and those who cannot get insurance at all. The State will pay the additional risk premium for the first group of people and it will assume the risk for the second group of people. This insurance scheme is the first of its kind in the world.