Mr. Gerry Cross:

I thank Deputy Doherty. On business interruption, I share the Deputy's sense that this is an enormously important issue for businesses, in particular businesses that have been struggling, as we know only too well, with a huge amount of challenge and disruption to their business over the past two years. Not only do I share that view, we moved very early to ensure our powers and resources were deployed to achieve the optimal outcomes in that context. On the point regarding the wording, we very quickly engaged across a very large number of types of policy, wording, firms and cover. We engaged with the firms to see how they were assessing the situation and, on the Deputy's precise point, we looked at the different types of policy wording to consider which policies we thought were clear in their cover and which policies were either strongly supportive of cover or could be considered to be reasonably supportive of cover. We also identified those which were thought were not supportive of cover. We engaged with firms very directly in that regard. We required them to be in contact with their customers and to be acting in line with our expectations.

On whether they had the possibility of going to the court on the wording to see whether we were right and the court supported our view, they did. What we do not have in Ireland, but which does exist in the UK, is the ability for the Central Bank to take a test case in that manner. We not only provided that level of clarity around the wording, we also made it clear that where cases were being brought, there should be a supportive approach from the insurers and the costs of those bringing those cases should not be in question. That has been taken through. As a result of our interventions, some insurers simply fell into line with what we were saying should happen but others, as I said, went to court. When the court judgment came down in the first part of this year, then all of the insurers fell in line with that and implemented it. That has resulted in a significant number of payouts. My colleague, Mr. Cullinan, may have those here and we are happy to share them if the committee so wishes.