Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators John Crown, Jillian van Turnhout and Mark Daly for their work on the Bill. I also thank the Department and the Minister for their work on it. It is welcome that we are using the process in the House to bring forward new legislation. Senator John Crown said it had taken two years for his Bill to come through, but in October 2009 the Minister and I published the Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill making it compulsory for all medical practitioners to have insurance. The process has not been completed and I ask the Minister to revisit the issue. I hope it will be done at some stage during the year.

Likewise, another Bill I have raised is the Civil Law (Missing Persons) Bill. If we had a similar accident to the Malaysian aircraft crash, we would rush through emergency legislation to deal with the issue of missing persons. I ask that the legislation be considered in view of the fact that the Law Reform Commission produced a report on the issue. The groundwork has been done. A number of Bills have been published by other Members and they should be given serious consideration in the coming months to ensure they get through during the term of the Government. I thank those involved in bringing forward this legislation.