The current position is that neither protection society will have to take account of these historic liabilities once enterprise liability becomes effective because no agreement has been made between the Minister and either society. It, therefore, will be at their discretion to take up the historic liabilities. Given that they are funded from subscriptions from doctors, it is impossible that other doctors would be able to cover from their much smaller fees the very large obstetric claims which arise. I am at a loss to understand how the Minister proposes to cover these liabilities without resorting to Exchequer funds and why the Department of Finance has not been informed of this surprise.