A Supreme Court decision on Bupa's challenge to the risk equalisation scheme (RES) in the health insurance market could be delayed for a considerable time if EU law issues are referred to the European courts, the High Court was told yesterday.
Michael Collins SC, for Bupa, said that if matters arise in the Supreme Court which result in a reference by that court of certain issues to the European courts, a final Supreme Court decision on Bupa's appeal could be "a long way away".
Bupa has appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court's rejection last December of its challenge to the validity of the RES.
The company's application to continue a stay on introduction of the scheme pending the outcome of that appeal will be heard on March 23rd.
The stay application will be strongly resisted by the VHI although lawyers for the Minister for Health have indicated she would be prepared to consent to the stay continuing to June 1st.
A date has yet to be fixed for the five-day appeal hearing itself but it appears the appeal will not be heard until after Easter.
In separate proceedings, Bupa is challenging the decision made on December 27th, 2005 by the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, to commence the risk equalisation scheme on January 1st, 2006. Many of the issues in those "commencement" proceedings are dependent on the outcome of the Supreme Court appeal.
The commencement proceedings were mentioned before Mr Justice Liam McKechnie yesterday who, on consent of the parties, adjourned them to April 16th to allow the sides to exchange affidavits and other legal documents.
Mr Collins said the proceedings would be affected by the Supreme Court decision on the other Bupa action. If there was a reference by the Supreme Court to issues in the appeal to the European court, the Supreme Court decision could be a long way away, he said.