Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

This week, hundreds of thousands of people will have opened their pay packets and found that they have been decimated financially and are being forced to pay for the sins of the Government. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to ask the Leader to bring the Minister for Health and Children to the House. She has been absent and silent on the question of VHI fees. The company has imposed fee increases of between 15% and 45%. I call on the VHI to postpone this fee increase. I ask the Leader to join me and other Members in calling on the VHI to postpone this ridiculous fee increase. Many customers, elderly and of all ages, cannot access the VHI or get information from the company. They are worried about their premia and health insurance coverage.

Will the Leader, as a golfer, explain to me, who does not play golf, how the Minister for Finance, over a four to five hour golf game and a three hour dinner, could not mention the bank's business? He could not even ask how business was going, whether they were busy or quiet, how the bank balance was and how they were getting on. Is the Leader telling me that in his job as a music impresario, if he goes out playing golf, he never mentions his clients or how their record sales are going?