Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank those who have raised issues on the Order of Business today. We started and ended with the serious issue of insurance, which was raised by Senator Horkan at the outset. I have a lot of experience in this area as a litigation solicitor who works mainly with insurance companies. It is frustrating to hear what Senator Hopkins has said about insurance costs. The way Senator McDowell put it really highlights the absolute insanity of it. We have to get to the bottom of this. It is really serious. I have read articles suggesting that judges are awarding payouts that are far too high in certain cases, but it is not as simple as that. It is right that inappropriate payouts get the headlines, but as a litigation solicitor who does a lot of work with insurance companies, I think the real issue is that 95% of cases are settled. One might think that the insurance companies are quite right to settle because they make commercial decisions about cases. That is what they rightly do as insurance companies. They put an overall reserve on a case. In most cases, they do not really mind how it comes to pass as long as a case settles for under that reserve. Many more prudent solicitors, including those I work with, run cases when they feel they really should be run because it would be crazy to settle them. I could give 20 examples. This serious issue is quite complicated. I think the insurance companies are the key to it. I do not have a full understanding of the level of communication that is going on between policymakers and insurance companies. It is something in which I would love to be more integrally involved. It seems to me like something that could be pretty simple to sort out. There is an urgent need for a debate in this House on this issue. I agree with almost everything that has been said on it this morning.

Senator Horkan also spoke about Spinraza. I know the family in question. I have had a lot of communication with someone on its behalf lately. I saw a video of Grace O'Malley yesterday. I met her some months ago. I can see the deterioration in her. One would need a heart of stone not to give these children the medicines they require, notwithstanding the cost. We have to look at the reason for this. As far as I am concerned, if one really looks into the matter, one will find that the system for deciding whether medications should be allowed is being played by the pharmaceutical companies. There is a wider issue here. They were looking at the UK situation to see how they would get on. They knew that if they got a certain deal in Ireland, it would have implications for how the UK system might react to their request for money. There is a wider problem here. We need to look at how we decide whether medicines should be given to certain vulnerable individuals. I accept that everything I am saying is absolute rubbish as far as the family of a child with this issue is concerned.