Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the fact that a very positive image of the island, North and South, has been projected around the world in the past few days. I hope it will result in many more visitors coming to the country and partaking of the Carlingford oysters to which Senator Terry Brennan referred.

I hope positive progress is being made at the G8 summit on the conflict in Syria. I support Senator Darragh O'Brien's call for the Tánaiste to give us an update on progress. We all want to see a peaceful resolution as a matter of urgency of the appalling conflict in which so many people have lost their lives and millions have been displaced. I hope the other leaders are able to persuade Prime Minister Putin to change his stance, urge a peaceful resolution and get everybody around a peace conference table as a matter of urgency. It would be very appropriate for significant progress to be made on the island of Ireland in that regard.

Reference was made to health insurance costs. Everybody agrees that the system needs a root and branch review and is highly dysfunctional. Taxpayers are being fleeced on an annual basis. We have heard of the possibility of a 30% increase in insurance costs. The figures mentioned by Senator John Kelly are alarming. Somebody who paid health insurance was charged €8,500 a night for accommodation, but if he or she had paid cash, the cost would have been between €900 and €1,200. There is something appallingly wrong with this. I heard a story yesterday - it may have been the same programme to which Senator John had Kelly listened - where a consultant arrived at a person's bedside to tell her that, unfortunately, he was so busy that he would not be able to see her until the following day. The woman was charged for two visits to her bedside by the consultant. There is something wrong with such a system. Once upon a time if a person went to a garage to have repairs carried out to his or her car, he or she would have been asked whether it was an insurance job or whether he or she was paying cash. We are now seeing the same in the case of health insurance. I welcome the comments of the Minister on "The Week in Politics". We would welcome an opportunity to have an open and frank debate with him on health insurance costs and how the structure can be reformed to give value to the taxpayer.