Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know that the Minister of State is a major sports fan and he will be cognisant of the three major sporting achievements this weekend, namely, Cavan's magnificent victory in Ulster, Tipperary's historic win in Munster and, of course, Tottenham Hotspur, the original London Irish club, moving to the top of the Premiership. It was a fantastic weekend.

In terms of this Bill, it is fair to say that the political differences across this House are most acute when we debate issues such as private healthcare and private health insurance. The political differences between this Government and Sinn Féin are most visible when it comes to health care provision, particularly in the context of private versus public healthcare. When this Bill came across my desk, I was reminded of the body of work progressive politicians have ahead of them to address the imbalance in healthcare and the importance of removing private healthcare from our public hospitals and our public healthcare system.

As has been stated previously, the question of health insurance is very fraught. On the one hand it facilitates the skipping of queues and the bypassing of waiting lists created by this and previous Governments. On the other hand, it represents a large number of people who go without other things to have health insurance because they are afraid that, without it, they will end up waiting 24 months for a colonoscopy or some other procedure.

I fundamentally oppose the need for a private health insurance market. We should be addressing this issue today. Why is there a need for a private health insurance market? The industry exists within the crevices and cracks of our broken public health system. I do not blame the health insurance industry for how it operates. As is the case in other countries, it is exploiting a failed system. If health insurance companies want to provide access to private care in private hospitals, I wish them well. That is their prerogative. My anger is reserved for those who have broken our health system and allowed private medicine to exist within it. It is clear that the system did not break because of those working within it. The system was deliberately broken and the process began with the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government.

Why did this happen? The system was broken to allow private medicine to make a profit from people's ills while convincing them that this was a good thing and possibly even good for their health. The health insurance market exists because the Government champions it and because people are afraid of having to enter the public system where they will have to wait for months or even years for treatment. Indeed, this weekend I spoke to two neighbours, one of whom is in his second year of waiting for a pain-killing injection, with no hope. Ironically, he is a former HSE worker. We are where we are because successive governments have driven, as a matter of policy, the privatisation of aspects of the health service and the commodification of health itself. We must ask whether this is the best way to run a health service. Is the manner of health insurance in this country fair, especially in view of the fact that much of the cover on offer is driven by fear? It constitutes an extra burden to be carried by taxpayers who have already contributed a large amount to the health budget.

The Oireachtas deals with a Bill such as this one every year. It seeks to take the risk away from insurance companies and equalise the risk for certain policyholders. It would be great if the Government was as quick to intervene in the market in other areas. While we will allow the passage of this Bill to ensure that older people and others are protected, we do so with serious reservations about a health service that is buckling under the weight of demand. In addition, we must point out that fear and a health service crippled by mismanagement and ineptitude are driving people to take out private health insurance. This is the case because successive Governments have failed to provide universal health care which is free at the point of delivery and which is based on need rather than an ability to pay.Insurance companies trade fear for profit in the health market and unfortunately there are many in this House who continue to act as their cheerleaders. The commodification of healthcare has been one of the most damning elements of the neo-liberal privatisation agenda. The push to turn people's health and well-being into a revenue stream is morally wrong. Where a public system sees illness and patients in need, the private sector sees money and opportunity.

Sinn Féin will allow this Bill to pass but we must have a more robust debate on the issue of private health insurance and private healthcare in our public system. I look forward to the day when we can provide a health service that delivers for the people based on need rather than on ability to pay and where private health insurance is no longer needed because of the quality of such a universal health service.

Finally, I wish to echo the point made by the previous speaker. The issue of non-EEA students has been around for a while. It was raised last year. It would not be a costly measure to accept a progressive amendment on Committee Stage and I hope the Minister of State will consider that because it is very important.