Mr. Michael Horan:

We said in our opening remarks that lower investment returns have played a part, but not the main part. If one looks back ten years, insurers could have expected more in terms of investment income. However, the yields have fallen. The thing about general insurance is that one must keep one's funds liquid, because the claims are what is known as short-tail - they are settled in the not-too-distant future - so one puts one's investments into low-yield products that one can access quickly. One does not put them into high-risk or long-term investments. For example, one cannot put vast amounts of investment into property because one needs the money to be liquid to pay the claim. Investments end up being in Government bonds and the like.