In an interview with the Sunday Tribune he stated that mutualisation was one of the options he would like to see discussed in the future although he would not be making his views public.

"Let me just say this. Long before this issue ever arose, the idea was put forward that VHI might become owned by its members, but remain not for profit, " he said.

"That's one of the options I hope will be discussed, " he added while going on to say that the company could be changed so as it's only made accountable to its members and that would reflect the reality in many ways."

However, the head of one of VHI's competitors says that breaking up a company in such a form is impossible.

"Mutualisation is rubbish.

It can't happen to a state company. You would have a ridiculous situation where only VHI members would have exclusive access to get into a state company. The government are the shareholders of the company, " he said.

However, Sheridan defended his position saying its a membership based company "Its foolish to say mutualisation can't happen. Anything can happen. The state does not finance the VHI the members do, " he said.

"The crucial decision on the longer term is whether it stays not-for-profit. Some ownership structures allow that and some don't, " he said.