Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Ned O'Sullivan, acting Leader of the Opposition, spoke about whole-of-life assurance policies. I agree with him in that regard. Carrying out reviews after ten years, particularly when no such indication was given when people took out these policies, is flawed. As the Senator said, there is no refund of moneys paid if a person forfeits after ten, 15 or 20 years. I agree with the Minister for Finance that the matter should be taken up with the Financial Services Ombudsman, but if he cannot solve the problem, legislation should be introduced if necessary because the people concerned took out policies in good faith and find halfway through them or 20 years on that they are costing them an exorbitant amount that they cannot meet. The Senator has certainly raised a very important point and I will bring the matter to the attention of the Minister.

Senators Ivana Bacik, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, Susan O'Keeffe and Hildegarde Naughten spoke about the SAFE Ireland report on domestic violence. As Senator Ivana Bacik mentioned, the reports builds on the work of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence. I will certainly try to facilitate a debate on the matter as soon as possible.

Senators Sean D. Barrett and Hildegarde Naughten, among others, spoke about the meningitis B vaccine and the deal struck between the UK Government and GlaxoSmithKline. It has been suggested it will cost in the region of £40 per vaccine to make it available to everyone in the United Kingdom. I am sure the Minister for Health and his Department will try to negotiate a similar agreement with the drugs company as soon as possible.

Senator Sean D. Barrett also noted the findings of the poll which showed that 54% of people were against the acquisition of Aer Lingus by IAG. This matter has been raised on many occasions on the Order of Business and will be the subject of a Commencement Matter tomorrow.

Senators Colm Burke and John Whelan spoke about the cost of drugs.Some of the drug companies suggest that 500 jobs may be lost as a result of the reduction in the costs. Tough luck for the drug companies. The use of generic drugs has increased from 10% to 48%, as has been mentioned by Senator Burke. We must work towards reducing the cost further. That is the aim of Government. In the UK, 80% of drugs used are generic. As Senator Burke said, we cannot aspire to that in a short period of time, but we must have improvement on the cost of drugs supplied by drug companies to our health system.

Senator Ó Clochartaigh spoke about the Centre for Independent Living and the need to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. We probably should have a debate on this issue in the House. We had a similar debate last year on that matter.

Senators Quinn and Noone discussed the referendum on the EU. It certainly will have severe repercussions for this country if the UK decides to leave the EU. The Taoiseach spoke of his concerns on this matter at a meeting of business interests in Northern Ireland only last week. We are concerned about the situation. At this point in time, during an election campaign, it would be inadvisable to get involved in the affairs of another country, but it is certainly something to which we should return after the next election.

On the updating of our radar capability to track down planes that may pose a threat to us, I am sure our Defence Forces are considering the matter. I will certainly bring it to the attention of the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney.

Senator Naughton also spoke about supporting the use of the new vaccine. Senator Craughwell advised us that the teachers' conferences are coming up and we have votes on industrial action by academic staff regarding the merger of institutes of technology, which is regrettable. We will have a Bill on technological universities coming to the House. It is not likely to be brought to the House before the summer, but perhaps we can arrange a debate with the Minister for Education and Skills so that we can feed into that process. I agree with his remark that there is a need for a university in the south east. Irrespective of industrial action, that process will have to continue. It is the only region in the country without a university and it has suffered as a result.