Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The other problem - if I may include it, Chairman - is that in addition to banks going broke and costing us €64 billion, we have an unfortunate tradition of insurance companies doing exactly the same. These include ICI, PMPA, Quinn and now Setanta. Is there a danger in this - I am not referring to those present here - that an insurance industry that has not been well regulated could turn out to be a burden on the taxpayer? While not as bad as the banks, it is still not good news that we seem to end up, through levies, bailing out people who do not do risk very well. What has been the custom, practice and tradition in the witnesses' own sectors?