Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this extremely urgent and serious situation. In March 2010, the people of the Border region, North and South, were thrown into disbelief and horror at the action taken by the Financial Regulator, Mr. Matthew Elderfield, who appointed provisional joint administrators by the High Court to Quinn Insurance Ltd. We now know that for years there had been no real regulation here. However, it is clear from the information now available that this action was less than necessary and the problem could have been dealt with in a different way.

I make no excuse for the fact that Seán Quinn and his family made a major blunder through their involvement in Anglo Irish Bank shares. In fairness, Mr. Quinn put up his hands and immediately admitted the exact situation and how it had caused difficulties. However, in spite of the fact that the Quinn group provided a minimum of 6,000 jobs on this island, some of the national media tried to make out that things were much worse than they proved to be. There were suggestions of a smoking bomb which was about to go off, but of course this never happened. Despite all the bad publicity, Quinn Insurance staff have managed to maintain and increase the insurance business that the regulator allowed them to deal with. This proves the value of the Quinn Insurance structure.

My question to the Minister of State is a simple one. My interest is not in any individual but in the retention of 6,000 jobs mainly in the Border region, where the IDA or similar organisations showed no interest. Why were negotiations broken off between the Quinn group and Anglo Irish Bank without any explanation and, thus, the administrator did not receive that proposal? Is it not correct to say that Anglo Irish Bank is fully under Government control and, as such, answerable to the Minister for Finance?

I recall our visit to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, as an Oireachtas cross-party group, when he advised us of the importance of Anglo Irish Bank to the solution. Does the Minister agree that it would be better to lodge sufficient money as a guarantee, which would almost certainly never be drawn down? The majority of the 6,000 jobs would thus be retained, rather than putting them at risk and ensuring that the taxpayer would have to bear the brunt of the €2.8 billion the Quinn family might not be able to repay under a different solution.

I make it clear that the Quinn Insurance group is going well. However, the Government and this House need to ensure that whatever has to be done is done to save those jobs.

See this speech in context