Mr. Domhnall Cullinan:

I want to be a little careful about what I say in this regard because I think it is related back to a Sunday Tribune report, if memory serves, and the company may have taken some sort of action. I do not know where that lies, particularly given the newspaper is no longer with us. Many people spoke about the model that company had. The real problem with Quinn Insurance was the large claims. We refer to the smaller claims as attritional claims such as the fender benders and the slip and trips. The model they had for that is probably more the model to which the Deputy is referring. With any model like that where the cost is €10,000 and one settles for €7,000 and somebody views that as a €3,000 profit, there is a danger in that one of the basic principles of insurance is to indemnify people in order that if they lose, they are compensated for their financial loss. It is equally wrong to overcompensate them but they should be in the same position after the claim has been settled as before it. That is the fear in that type of model. What I can certainly say to the Deputy is in terms of complaints about Quinn Insurance claims settlement and the company's compliance with our consumer protection code and the rules, there were no significant issues and there was not a significant level of complaints, certainly as compared to their peers. While I am aware of the allegation, it did not manifest itself in a manner within the Central Bank that I could make any comment on beyond that.