Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

This amendment is associated with the proposal in the new section 7, which I will introduce later, to allow the board of the VHI to establish a subsidiary company for the specific purpose of carrying on its health insurance and health related insurance schemes. The intention is that the board will, on the appointed day, transfer all of its health insurance business to the new subsidiary. This transfer will take place within the VHI group of companies. The transfer will not affect any of the rights or entitlements of existing VHI health insurance policyholders on the transfer day.

Section 13 of the Assurance Companies Act 1909 and section 36 of the Insurance Act 1989 are intended to protect the interest of policyholders in circumstances here where one insurance company is taken over by another or where one insurance company merges with another. As the transfer proposed in this Bill does not involve any external company, these provisions should not apply. The Bill, when enacted, will provide the statutory basis for the transfer of the health insurance business from the VHI board to the new subsidiary established for that purpose.