01 February 2007
Dr. Henry: I welcome the fact that BUPA Ireland has been bought by another insurer. However, there are plenty of grey heads around the House and we should be anxious that community rating may disappear if any new entrant buying another company does not have to pay any financial recompense to established companies. The Minister for Health and Children has made this clear over the last few years and I am sure she is right.
The Statute Law (Revision) Bill was enacted in 2005. Another such Bill has just been published to remove from the Statute Book, Acts that are no longer relevant. Recently, the Law Reform Commission produced a report on vulnerable adults and the law. Vulnerable adults are dealt with shabbily and are referred to in much legislation as "imbeciles" or "morons". These terms are of no relevance in this day and age. In fact, in the last session, I objected to legislation which referred to people as "being of unsound mind". Such terms have no medical or legal definition. The explanation I received as to why such terms were included in the legislation was because they were contained in a further 157 pieces of legislation. I thought that was a ridiculous explanation.
The Law Reform Commission brought forward a draft Bill on mental capacity and guardianship. Will the Leader ascertain if the Minister can consider adding that short Bill to the legislative schedule? At the stroke of a pen we could thus rectify these peculiar definitions within our legislation.
Ms O'Rourke: What is the name of that Bill?
Dr. Henry: The report by the Law Reform Commission is entitled "Vulnerable Adults and the Law". The suggested legislation is entitled the scheme of mental capacity and guardianship Bill. It would bring us into a more decent and modern age if we included descriptions which were considered relevant, rather than the offensive terms used in a considerable body of current legislation.
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