Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome both Ministers to the House. I reiterate some of the points I made on the first occasion we had Committee Stage, which is to express my regret at seeing unrelated amendments being shoehorned into a Bill. I know that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, agreed that it was not ideal. We are all agreed that it is not an ideal situation. This is a Bill that is coming from a different Department. Department of Justice amendments are being inserted into a Bill introduced by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The original purpose of the Family Leave Bill was very much welcomed by all of us, but it is utterly unrelated to the provisions we are now dealing with through these Government amendments.

Having said that we are not opposing the amendments. We accept the need for them. The Judicial Council decision to adopt the personal injuries guidelines was made very recently, on 6 March. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, indicated that this appeared to be the next suitable Bill in which to place the amendments. We certainly accept that. However, we believe the amendments deal with transitional matters that could have been put into the original Act had greater thought gone into it. None of the amendments really deals with the guidelines themselves which are not before the Houses. The Oireachtas has in effect already legislated to give effect to the guidelines in section 99 of the Judicial Council Act. In a sense we are not making any substantive changes through these amendments which are purely technical and addressing omissions.

I again put on the record my concern that we are seeing unrelated amendments inserted into a Bill which was self-contained and for a specific purpose. To that extent amendment No. 1, which changes is the Title to the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, would generally be acknowledged as being poor legislative practice.

I make one other point in respect of the changes in the guidelines which are now to be brought into effect. While all of us are very much in favour of seeing premiums reduced and very conscious of the enormous difficulties the high cost of insurance has created for many people, which is the rationale put forward for introducing this legislation, clearly the personal injuries guidelines are very much in the interests of the insurance industry which wants to see the cost of awards coming down. We need to ensure that there is a quid pro quoand that the insurance companies pony up, meaning that we see premiums reduced as a result of this so that the effect is positive for clients of insurance companies. If awards are to be reduced, individuals paying for insurance must feel a benefit. It cannot be one-way traffic on this issue.

I have a question on the wording of the amendments. I know this relates to the later amendments Nos. 5 and 6.If I may just ask-----