Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank Mr. Power and Mr. Lyons for their submissions and contributions. They have painted an extremely worrying picture of the undersupply of insurance to the sector in which they are engaged and have described the real threat to the viability of practices and firms in the sector. There will also be a spillover effect to the wider construction sector and the possibility of delays if fire consultants and engineers cannot access insurance. I want to understand a bit more about the reasons underwriters have withdrawn from the Irish market.

I have several questions in that regard. Were Irish underwriters ever active in underwriting the type of public liability insurance and fire safety insurance that is required? If they were, have they simply exited the market now? In their submission, the witnesses detailed some of the reasons the British underwriters have exited the market. I refer in particular to the aspect of compliance with building regulations. There seems to be a suggestion that there has been a change in the degree of compliance required. I ask the witnesses to give some more detail regarding why they believe the underwriters have exited the Irish market.