Ms Moyagh Murdock:

We are aware through Brokers Ireland that there is increasing capacity. Obviously it is tentative and it will take time. Some of the measure and approaches being taken by the Government and local authorities, as well as fire safety improvements, have increased the appetite for more to enter into the thatched cottages market. I do not have the answer as to how many that will cover but I think it will address some of the problems, although not necessarily everybody. It is a step in the right direction. The more improvements we can make on the risk profile, the more viable it is. At the end of the day, the insurers are obliged to retain a certain level of solvency and make a profit and if they cannot make a profit, they go out of business and leave the policyholders in the lurch. That has happened too often. There have been many years of significant loss-making and we have seen insurers go out of business and leave the market. That is not what we want to see happen here. We want more to come into the market and to provide better choice and more competitive rates because at the moment it is an unattractive risk and will be until we address some of the reasons it is different from the UK market and other jurisdictions.