Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

May I ask the committee to note that one of the aspects of the estimated liability which is recorded in the SCA's figures for 2016 is the impact of a Supreme Court decision in respect of estimating the quantity that will be paid in cases in the future and there was quite a significant increase. Between 2015 and 2016, there was a €400 million increase in the amount that was provisioned, €300 million of which was to do with the discount rate that was applied to estimate the payout to be made in individual cases. To a certain extent, it is not exactly the book of quantum issue but it is an expectation because of lower returns on investments that a bigger sum will have to be paid out to ensure that somebody who is expected to live for whatever period is actuarially determined to have sufficient. It is quite a complicated issue but it is one of the reasons the amount that is provisioned or disclosed is increasing.