Mr. John Quinlan:

I am happy to give the Deputy feedback on that question. We are absolutely looking to cover these areas when we can. I spoke to a leading Lloyds broker this week to understand what was going on from a Lloyds' perspective. Lloyds would have been a safety valve for the giving of cover, often at higher prices. I can give the Deputy verbatim the feedback I got. Lloyds itself is struggling to retain some of its capital providers. The Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, was over in its offices recently. It has introducd a newe syndicate-in-a-box initiative where over a three-month period one can become a writer of business. However, what is happening is that under a new regime they have to write for underwriting profit. We have seen many syndicates which wrote business here not getting their business plans approved. Amlin Insurance had business of £250 million sterling, a chunk of which would have been Irish business, which will no longer be written. It has not got permission to do so. C.V. Starr and R&Q Insurance were also affected. The fact that Excel Insurance and AXA Insurance - AXA being the general insurance company in Ireland and one of the biggest in the world - cannot see a way to write their leisure insurance business gives us an indication of the real challenges. The sector that will benefit most immediately from the reforms we are calling for will be the leisure sector. In the medium term we would be prepared to work, certainly at Insurance Ireland level, on alternative approaches to give some sort of cover here but it is complex. It is not without its challenges.