Mr. John Gleeson:

I am vice chairman of the Licensed Vintners Association, LVA. We own a family-run pub in suburban Dublin and we have found there is lack of competition when we seek a quote every year. We have had no public liability claims in the past ten years but our insurance is increasing by at least 20% year on year. We deal through a broker. The broker goes to the market. One big player has at least 80% of the Dublin pub market, so there is a lack of competition. One can go through the United Kingdom where sometimes one might be dealing with an agency that deals with lower A rated companies. The basic problem is a lack of competition.

The only way to drive competition is to provide more clarity in the market. If there is competition, one can see exactly how claims are settled, the volume of claims and what is happening in the market. The Government needs to legislate for the mandatory provision of statistical information regarding public liability. The more information that is gathered, the more chance of outside companies coming in to compete in Dublin and the rest of the country. That is where we are coming from.