Dr. Fergal Lynch:

There is certainly a case for improvement in several of the insurers. I would strongly welcome that improvement.

Deputy Naughten raised a concern about the rules surrounding double payment of the levy on moving mid-year to another insurer. This arose in the past few days in the context of the Finance Bill and we have raised it with our colleagues in the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance. We are discussing it with them and hope to reach a conclusion as quickly as we can. We would certainly like to deal with this issue as quickly as possible.

In respect of the timing of lifetime community rating, we would like to put forward proposals as quickly as possible. I take the point about any danger of drift in moving to UHI. We are committed to moving to it as quickly as we can. We are under no illusions that it is a complex system that will take time to put in place.