Mr. Peter Boland:

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, is in the process of investigating motor insurance and the European Commission has two inquiries going on at the moment. We met the CCPC and it is not yet in a position to comment but we have common ground with it in the sense that no data are available. The Acting Chairman asked a very good question and we have heard a lot of commentary on the issue in the past six months or so. There are more data in the banking industry - a sector which is getting a lot of criticism at the moment - than in the insurance industry so it is very difficult to answer. It is a very concentrated industry and 90% of the motor insurance business is handled by only six underwriters, while 90% of the liability insurance market is controlled by eight underwriters. There is not a lot of competition and the Department of Finance takes the view that it illustrates how unattractive the insurance market is. We have other views but we need data and the first step is to have enough information to work out what is going on. As it stands, there is no transparency.