Mr. Fergal O'Leary:

We have been under way with this study since July, when we got the request from the Minister. So far, what we are finding, unsurprisingly, is that it is difficult to get data to make evidence-based recommendations in the public liability market. In and of itself, that is a significant issue. The lack of transparency on what is happening in the market is not helpful for anybody. There are certainly issues with this being a niche market in parts. What we have done is that we have taken the overall market for public liability and we are trying to break it down into as many subsectors as we can. We are trying to figure out what exactly is the problem for each of those subsectors, and when we can do that we can then come up with some solutions and recommendations for the Government to consider.

What we are seeing, and this was alluded to by Insurance Ireland, is that insurance is cyclical. There is a soft side to the market when things are good for insurance companies and then there is a hard side when things are not good. It seems to be, however, that the market for public liability here is a little bit broken at the hard side of the market and we are seeing many exits from the market. That is the nub of how we can make this better in future. If we can understand why those companies are leaving and if there are barriers to entry for new companies coming in, then we will be able to come up with recommendations and solutions for individual subsectors such as childcare. We have engaged in that area and Early Childhood Ireland has been very helpful in providing us with information. We will be looking for more information from that organisation as a representative of a key subsector. We need to get to the point of what exactly is the reason for firms leaving at this harder end of the market.