Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also congratulate Senator Buttimer and his partner, Conchobhar. I wish them every happiness and good luck with their wedding plans. It was a joy to hear that good news on the radio this morning.

I commend the people of Waterford, many of whom I met outside this afternoon. I express my condolences to the family of Thomas Power. I have absolute solidarity with them because those of us in the west of Ireland know what it is like not to have these services. It takes two hours and 22 minutes to get from my house to the nearest cardiac unit in Galway. We know we are unlikely to survive that journey if we need cardiac services earlier than that. I urge people from Waterford, Mayo and other areas around the country who are deprived of vital services to join together.

I have no doubt that people are dying prematurely because they cannot access the services on time because they suffer a heart attack or stroke on the wrong day of the week or the wrong time of the day. That is wrong at any level. It is wrong to live in a Republic in which people sacrificed their lives 100 years ago and still have a State where people cannot get these vital services. I commend the people from Waterford who are here. I also commend my colleague, Deputy Cullinane, who produced his report on cardiac services for the south east. I urge the Government to listen to these people and put right what needs to be put right so that people can get these vital services.

I welcome that officers of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission raided the offices of Insurance Ireland this morning. As a member of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, I sat through many sessions where we attempted to get clarity as to why the premiums had rocketed in recent years. I also labelled the industry as behaving like a cartel. The fact that the Central Bank accused companies of not providing information or providing false information seems good grounds for an action such as that taken this morning.

The massive spikes in insurance premiums left many people in financial difficulty. There were no explanations given for these massive hikes. After attending an entire module of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach during which all the major companies were questioned, we were still none the wiser as to why the premiums rocketed in the first place. The answers we received were evasive, contradictory and repetitive. It is a pity that actions such as this morning's are necessary to get to the truth. I hope that these raids will form the start of a thorough and forensic investigation into an industry that has not been helpful or forthright in answering questions.

I also welcome the start of public hearings at the Charleton inquiry. I am not happy that we have another expensive process of finding out the truth. In Ireland it seems that the truth is the most expensive commodity that we search for.