Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are sitting for two days next week. I understand it is to do with the referendum, but there is a lot of legislation that needs to be done.

I refer to Vicky Phelan and her desire for accountability, as she says, and not revenge. She made some important statements at the Committee of Public Accounts yesterday. She said that she did not want to die in vain. She wanted protocols to be put in place, and sanctions for people who make mistakes. She wanted the HSE to be overhauled from the ground up. Mr. Stephen Teap, whose wife has died because of this gross mismanagement in the health service, said that mandatory open disclosure was worthless unless sanctions are introduced for those individuals who do not comply.

Last week we had a debate on the Corporate Manslaughter (No. 2) Bill 2016. I have written to the Minister asking when the Government's proposed amendments would be brought forward. Again, the Government wants to water down the Bill that was proposed by the Law Reform Commission in 2005 as a result of the hepatitis C scandal. The most important section of that Bill is section 3, "Offence of grossly negligent management causing death", for which a person who should have acted would go to jail for a period of up to 12 years. The Government wants that taken out of the legislation, because it does not think anybody should be held individually accountable for gross mismanagement. Why do we think we have these scandals over and over again? There are people in senior management all across the public service who are not held personally liable for their inaction and for deaths of Irish citizens as a result of that inaction.

I also ask the Leader to facilitate a debate on, and hope that the Government will bring in legislation to reflect, the latest news from the European Commission. The Commission is investigating the ongoing scandal in the car insurance market. It looks like there is some form of collusion between the insurance companies, given the fact that we are paying such high rates for insurance with no real reason or justification for it.

The cartel the insurance industry and its lobby group appear to be running is affecting businesses and jobs. It is affecting people's ability to get a car and go to work. That is how it is impacting on people, and yet the Government is not taking action. I will give the House an example of an insurance case in Kerry. My father is an insurance broker. The issue here is of course the reform of the legal system. Mr. Justice Kelly of the Supreme Court pointed out that unless one is a pauper or a millionaire one cannot get justice in Ireland. Anyone in the middle will not be able to afford it. In this instance three people were injured in a motor insurance claim. The claim for each of the individuals was €500. The three claimants got a total of €1,500. The legal costs amounted to €9,700 and the outlay was €3,300. The total cost was €14,000, of which 10% went to the people who were injured. The legal profession got 66%, and the outlay of the legal profession was 22%. I repeat, 10% went to the people who were injured.

That needs reform. We all know that former Minister for Justice and Equality, then Deputy Alan Shatter, was trying to reform that, and bring in a system that made justice affordable for all. If it is not affordable for everybody, then one cannot get justice in this country because one simply cannot afford it. That is not an equal society, and I hope that the Leader will organise not a debate but legislation, to address the insurance industry and the cartel it is running.