Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Members sometimes lose sight of what they are dealing with, which I perceive to be a spectacular collapse of a major player in the insurance business. Whatever about business failure in itself, business failure that is engineered because of deliberate mismanagement, maladministration and greed is something the joint committee must address to ascertain how the pieces can be picked up. In that sense, I note the witnesses before members today are not the bad guys in many respects, although I have some critical questions I wish to ask. In the very first paragraph of his opening remarks, Mr. McAteer stated the company did not contest the appointment of an administrator. For the benefit of members, he might elaborate further on the reception that awaited the administrators when they arrived at Quinn Insurance Limited. The fact the company did not object to the appointment of an administrator might appear to suggest it was prepared to work with Mr. McAteer in a spirit of co-operation to try to secure the employees and the business in the future. Mr. McAteer might elaborate on this and whether this was the position. In that context and in respect of the administrators' preliminary reports to the courts, with hindsight, does Mr. McAteer think there was an excessive reliance on senior management with regard to the guesstimate he was in a position to make at an early stage? Was there an excessive reliance on senior management as to what the call might be on the insurance fund?