Minister for Health Mary Harney appointed the Barrington group to examine the health insurance sector after the second-largest player Bupa signalled its intention to pull out of the Irish market. Bupa was later taken over by businessman Seán Quinn and renamed Quinn Healthcare.
The group was chaired by Colm Barrington, the managing director in Ireland of Babcock & Brown investment bank. He specialises in aircraft financing.
The other two members were Dorothea Dowling and Séamus Creedon.
Ms Dowling is group liability manager with CIÉ and non-executive chairwoman of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. She chaired the Motor Insurance Advisory Board, whose work led to reform in that sector.
Mr Creedon is an actuarial expert and was a director and partner at financial services firm KPMG in London. He previously worked for companies within the Bank of Ireland group.
