Ms Verona Murphy:

All underwriters are foreign but we have not done that to any great extent. We do not have enough expertise or anyone in the market we could employ to set up such an option. The cost would be at least €20 million and that kind of money is just not there, either as money we could raise from our members or capital from anybody else prepared to take the risk. Many of us can hardly manage to sustain the level of increases as they are, never mind invest in something like that. If the Government wants to invest and set it up, we would look at that option but otherwise we do not have the capabilities as an association. With the right help, it would not be beyond us but I am not sure the model would survive.