Order of Business - 15th December 2006

Order of Business – 15th December 2006
Mr. Norris: I agree strongly with everything Senator Brian Hayes has said. The situation concerning BUPA is serious, but I am not surprised the Competition Authority came in late in the day. Did it not miss one of its own deadlines? I sincerely hope the Government will scrutinise the recommendations carefully. They were reluctant to come on the radio today to defend the situation that is mooted, whereby that VHI could be split up into four segments. My colleague, Professor Seán Barrett of Trinity College, who is a former candidate for the Dublin University Seanad panel, was extremely good on RTE today, although it galls me to say so. He said the splitting up of the VHI would be like creating four Aer Lingus companies. It is absolutely daft. Professor Barrett suggested that the problem might have been solved if BUPA had a dedicated telephone line which referred 25% of older patients to the VHI. It is a simple and practical measure. This matter should not be ideologically driven, however. At the end of the day, patients' care should be at the heart of the matter.
I know and respect Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan. The community is extremely lucky to have two such dignified, gracious and well advised women to take this case. It comes as something of a relief that I was contacted only once by a radio station yesterday, and its representative did not bothered to ring back for my views. I was not quoted in any of the newspapers, which to my mind shows the growing maturity of this society.
I am not the only one who is interested in this matter and neither am I a single issue person. This is a human rights matter which has been taken on by both Government and Opposition Senators. It is important to note that yet again a rebuke was delivered to the Oireachtas by a judge, who in this case indicated that we should have dealt with this a long time ago. We should do so. I have proposed a Bill, which has been revised, and I will propose it in the next session.
When I see that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Michael McDowell, is considering examining the issues, my feelings are like those of the Old Testament prophet who said, "How long, O Lord, how long?" He is a slow learner. For how long must these matters be examined? The Minister should get up and do something.
If others are not interested that is just too bad. Like the Government, they are probably suffering from what I can only describe as political attention deficit disorder. I hope the Government will concentrate on this issue because action on it is overdue. We now have an opportunity to deal with it. Both women in the case were gracious in their comments on the judge, even though they must have been stung. I have been there, too, and know what it is like to face this kind of reversal, but they were gracious in what they said about the judge and the court proceedings. I have proposed such a Bill and we should press ahead with it.
Christmas has been adverted to and while Members of this House are in a lucky and privileged position, there are others in this city who are not. They include the homeless who are lucky to have Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy. One point struck me from listening to the radio news programmes, which concerned a ship that has been impounded in Dublin port. This is the second ship belonging to Norfolk Lines that has been found to pay less than €1 per hour to its employees, while others have not been paid at all. More than $200,000 is owed to the crew. This is a form of indentured slavery and must end. It is not appropriate to treat seamen in this way. We have seen the Irish Ferries situation and there have been difficulties with other shipping lines also. This matter should be resolved quickly because it is wrong to have people stranded aboard a ship in Dublin port with no income.