Ms Fiona Muldoon:

I do not have much to add other than to say it feels like I would have to mount a defence of capitalism. It is a business, it seeks to make a profit. The only alternative to that is the State provision of insurance and I suppose we would have to go nine rounds on whether the State could be as efficient as a privately run business seeking to make a profit and a return for its shareholders. In the absence of a State run system and the inefficiencies that a State run system would be likely to bring with it, we have a heavily competitive capitalist, free market based system, where we are making modest return on equity to reward our shareholders. Our shares are for sale everyday in the public market and our shareholders are putting their money at risk.

I believe we are heavily competitive in the farm sector, which is the sector we know best. I apologise for using it as an example again. We have heard from our French colleagues that they have entered the farm market. There are others competing, including the Swiss and the British. If we are charging a price that is unsustainable, I am sure my German colleagues will join us. It is a competitive market and the market sets the price. If one is inefficient or if one is not making a profit, one is out of business. That is the system in the insurance industry.