Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

It is proposed to amend sections 3B(1) and 3B(2). This amendment provides that where the insurer concerned is in an equivalent of liquidation in another member state, the accountant of the insurance compensation fund, who manages the fund on behalf of the High Court, can apply on behalf of the persons concerned for payment to be made once in every six months. The limitation on the frequency of applications is included to ensure that excessive legal costs are not imposed on the fund and to enable claims to be made in respect of a number of policy holders at a time rather than in respect of each policyholder individually.

Senators will note the inclusion of paragraph (b) in subsection (2) of the amended text. This is a technical amendment. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure the accountant of the High Court receives a payment from the fund for the cost of any application to the insurance compensation fund that he or she makes to the High Court on behalf of policy holders of insurance companies authorised outside the State, whether the application is successful. The Bill, as drafted, allows for payments of costs only when the application has been successful.

Subsection (2) as amended provides that where an amount is paid out of the fund under subsection (3), the accountant will pay over the amount due to the person concerned, and the fund and the accountant will be a creditor of the insurance company concerned in respect of the amount paid over. I commend this technical amendment to the House.