Noel O'Flynn (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

Does anybody remember what happened on St. Patrick's Day in 1985? Ireland's largest bank at the time, AIB, disclosed the failure of its subsidiary, Insurance Corporation of Ireland, known as ICI at the time. That was probably the worst and the biggest financial difficulty the State had ever seen, along with that from two years previously, the failure of the PMPA with liabilities of approximately £223 million.

During that time, commentators pointed to the various potential warning signs that were available in advance. Regarding ICI, for example, it was remarked that for several years ICI's reserves against future claims represented a much lower ratio to claims paid than the industry average-----

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