Mr. Kevin Thompson:

It might be worthwhile for me to begin by explaining the data we collect and who we currently share it with. It is shared at very different levels and for very different purposes. First, we collect data in respect of uninsured driving and, more importantly, vehicles which are insured.

That is in an automatic number plate recognition, ANPR, system. Our insurers provide the ANPR database of all insured vehicles, with the purpose of passing that data on to An Garda Síochána so that it can check whether a car is insured. That is the first data we share.

The second level of data share relates to InsuranceLink. InsuranceLink is a database which monitors claims, with the sole purpose of trying to identify profiles in fraudulent claims. That data is shared, again with insurers, with the sole purpose of combating fraud.

The third database we have is the IIDS, which is the information insurance data services. That relates to the area of penalty points where our database is connected to the national fleet database, which is held in Shannon. In terms of what we do, our members, through that database, can access it to verify people's disclosure about penalty points. That information is shared.

The next data about which there has been much talk is in respect of aggregate market data, that is, how well the industry performs in terms of profits, loss, claims and so on. In respect of that area, we report to the Central Bank under our legislative and regulatory obligations. We also produce our own fact file. The Central Bank also produces the private motor statistics, which we feed into. That was borne out of a statistical analysis the Motor Insurance Advisory Board did. The Central Bank of Ireland has continued on with that. We collect that as well from the industry and pass it on. I hope that gives the members some oversight in terms of the type of data we collect, the reason we collect it, who we collect it from and with whom we share it.