Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to comment about markets acting like cartels. As I said, there is an ongoing investigation. I have to also be cognisant that part of the role is to have companies come in and create competition. Part of that is that companies should be profitable. Until, I think, two years ago, insurance companies in Ireland were not profitable. Prior to that, we were losing insurers and that meant that there are some sectors that only have one insurance opportunity and that is not even here because some sectors have to be insured from London. That is a difficulty for the entire sector.

I have a balance to strike between protecting the consumers and having a competitive market. As I said, until a couple of years ago, companies were in significant loss.