Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Someone will correct me if I am wrong but to reinforce what the Chairman said, Zenith, which I can name because it is on the public record, is telling us through the Irish Brokers Association that it was de factolocked out of a process of data sharing relating to the market.

We are told there are three fundamental databases, but it appears that not everybody operating within the market, or seeking to become a member, can access them. It is like a club, I suppose. If somebody is in Insurance Ireland, he or she is away on a hack, so to speak, as the person would know the pricing mechanisms and how to game the pricing systems. I use the word "game" as the person would have perfect knowledge of reserves and how much of a profit can be made. Even taking historical factors into account, we were told there was a reduction in the market for premiums, with certain players trying to get to the top of the market or have the most market share, resulting in a reduction in premium costs, but all of a sudden there is a reset going on. If that is happening, one does not set a price based on an intention to earn super-normal profits. The price is clearly being reset based on the fact that there must be resetting of the market to meet reserves, the Solvency II rules and what we spoke of earlier.

It would appear the insurance sector is confining its behaviour to a certain number of larger firms, to the detriment of other players. On the face of it, that is what appears to be happening. They are using Setanta as cover for that. They are using the dysfunction in the market as a resetting mechanism to profiteer. That is the theory here. It comes back to whether we can legislate to get access to data. Ms O'Leary was beginning to elucidate the point that there is a difference between what happens internally within the market and what is in the public domain. That distinction has been made.