Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Norris is a silly Bill and I wonder what was the gender breakdown of the court that handed down the decision. Why can a woman not be more like a man? I certainly hope women cannot be more like men in the context of road safety, because their record is much better than that of men.

O'Neill, Pat.

The model that seems to underpin the decision is that women achieved a form of dominance over the insurance industry and set out to charge men more but the opposite was the case. Men dominated the industry. They realised women were much safer drivers and rewarded them according to what their actuaries had worked out. This is the kind of measure that gets the European Court of Justice a bad name in that when we attempt to reward good behaviour we are penalised. It is silly.

I always welcome the Minister of State to the House. I accept what she said at the end of her contribution about the Government having no option but to do this because of the European Court of Justice decision. In the earlier debate the Minister for Health had no problem ignoring European court decisions but this Minister is right to adhere to it. It is welcome that she has put the Central Bank in charge. The Minister for Health appears to have difficulty in relying on it to regulate the insurance industry.

We can now look forward to more bogus equality decisions. The markers of the leaving certificate always mark women much higher than men. That is based on their abilities but it is unequal. I have no doubt their learned lordships in Europe are working on that.

The other person who must be brought in for punishment under this measure is the angel of death who is likely to call on the male Members of the House at least five years earlier than he will call on the Minister or Senators Keane and O'Keeffe.

There is a great deal of daft equality stuff coming out of Europe, and this is part of it. Those lower premiums rewarded people for safe driving and as Senator O'Donovan said, we have reduced the number of deaths on the road from 650 in the 1960s and the 1970s to 150 or 160 this year. We have to get around the moral hazard problem and if their lordships in Europe have never heard of it, we ought to look askance at some of their decisions.

This is a silly decision. I regret the Minister of State was forced to implement it as she said in her contribution. It is the kind of thing that gets Europe a bad name. I look forward to more findings on the standard European sausage because as far as I am concerned this measure comes from the same kind of sausage factory. This penalises people who drive safely and in terms of those who have a record of saving lives, and I refer to all the work Gay Byrne has done, I wonder what planet those judges live on.