Business people have contacted me in recent weeks about the spiralling costs of their public liability. They feel very aggrieved because they thought their insurance policies covered disruption of business due to infectious diseases. Insurance companies are point-blank refusing to honour the commitment in their policies. Will the Government direct insurance companies to honour the policies they have with business people?

Insurance companies should honour their commitments. The Government is taking the insurance issue very seriously. The Ministers of State, Deputies Fleming and Troy, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform are all very focused on the need to deal comprehensively with the insurance issue in order that insurance companies will honour people's policies and that we get insurance costs down. The cost of insurance is a significant burden on many viable enterprises that are suffering a great deal at the moment.