Mr. Brian McHugh:

Dealing with the legal question first, in terms of what we mean by competition in legal, if we take conveyancing, what we want to see is the solicitors' monopoly ended. It is not that we want to see lots more solicitors. What we see in those other countries is that it is not just solicitors who can do conveyancing. In Ireland, there is a rule that only solicitors can do conveyancing. In other countries, people still have to be qualified and are still regulated in terms of conveyancing but it is a much narrower field. They are experts in conveyancing. Solicitors still provide the service in those other countries but they now have to compete. Then you have new entry with people coming in saying they are experts in conveyancing and that they will do it quicker and more efficiently and apply technology. As we know from our local solicitors, they do many things. When you have a focus and an expertise in conveyancing, we see new ideas, new technology and new innovation coming in and that is what competition looks like. When we talk about the legal sector, we also mean the broader question of the court system, which is not really about competition per se but it is a fundamental platform of how everything - businesses and consumers - is affected in Ireland. The Kelly reforms have been there for a number of years. We really welcome the Government recommendations to pursue and enact those reforms and they will make a big difference.

Regarding brokers, we have had mergers for brokers. We have not identified significant lessening of competition, which is the legal test we are required to check.