Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The penalties to be imposed on insurance companies are to include imprisonment not exceeding five years and fines of ¤50,000. I do not see the point of criminalising the independent health insurance sector, particularly as we ourselves are in breach of a European Court decision of 29 September 2011. Six years before that date we were invited by the European Commission to regularise the position but declined to do so. As far as I can see, we are still in breach of that decision. Therefore, proposing draconian penalties to be enforced within 30 days reads strangely for a Department which has a strange record in complying with decisions of the Supreme Court and the European Court and ignoring messages from the European Union. I do not believe the conduct of the health insurance business is inherently criminal in any way. The existing penalties are adequate because there were never infringements in this regard.