Mr. Peter Boland:

From the perspective of the alliance, I ask that members, as individual Deputies and Senators, ask as a matter of urgency what is necessary to get the Judicial Council Bill through quickly. We have received commitments from the Department of Finance that it will be by summer, which seems onerous, but if the political will is there we do not doubt that is possible. Also, where is the Garda insurance fraud unit? Those are the two key questions.

I am conscious that the committee does not have a direct line to the Law Society so I will concentrate on the insurance industry, into which it does have a direct line. We are well aware of the profits that have been declared in recent weeks. Given that it looks as though they were over-reserved in recent times, and that may have had quite an influence on the losses they declared, we suspect they will go into a period of very substantial profitability, as those reserves are released back into the profit and loss accounts. I would ask them a direct question, namely, what they will do in light of their improving financial situation, to help the policyholders of Ireland?