Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

As I said before the lunchtime break, the purpose of the legislation is to provide by way of a tax credit by the Exchequer the support of older sicker people by younger people. That has been done by way of a stamp duty on the companies. Clearly, there can be no intention here of overcompensation. That is not only our view, but also very much the view of the EU Directorate General for Competition. This is a competition matter and not one for Commission McCreevy who deals with the Internal Market. We cannot distort competition by taking from one to give to another in circumstances which are not fair. Therefore, the requirement is for this to be a justifiable state aid. There is an assumption that state aid is never allowed. State aids are allowed if they are justifiable in the public interest - in this case in the interest of the older and sicker people in the insured population.

The HIA would be required to return each year to the Minister the details - we will deal later with the periods and so on - on these matters and recommendations on the tax credit so that it can be addressed in the context of budgets. These are technical provisions to address that point. I believe Deputy Reilly asked me what overcompensation would be. Clearly, the HIA would seek to ensure that the return for the companies would be the general return one would expect in the market. The return in the general insurance market is approximately 4% to 5% and one would expect that kind of return.

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