The review was commenced by the then Minister, Deputy Kenny, when the trade division of my Department was part of the Department of Tourism and Trade. I think the review began early in 1997. After the controversy which surrounded export credit insurance in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the then Minister decided to review the scheme. At that time, 80 per cent of exports covered by the scheme were dropped. We were left with a small scheme covering short-term political risk and medium-term political and commercial risk.
Since the restructured scheme was introduced in 1991, only 20 companies or 44 renewals were covered, involving £66 million of exports. To put that in context, we exported over £30 billion of goods in 1997. The scheme was almost defunct and covered only four core clients at the time it ceased to operate. The private insurance market is providing cover for all these markets. Most of our exports to the markets covered were not covered by the scheme.
Insurance must have a balanced portfolio or it is not insurance. If one is covering only emergency or crisis markets then that is not an insurance scheme. If the State wishes to support companies to access those markets then it must do so by methods other than insurance. If taxpayers are funding only companies exporting to emergency markets where the likelihood of not being paid is extremely high, then they are carrying a heavy risk. In that context taxpayers are not involved in insurance. One has to balance the good cases with the bad and strike the premium on the basis of such a balance. I am satisfied from the review and the consultations in which we have engaged that no Irish company will be adversely affected. The private sector will be able to cover the needs of exporters.