Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the cross-party nature of this evening's attempt to address this hugely important issue. However, while I welcome the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Alexandra White, is taking this Adjournment matter, I regret that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is not here in person. I understand that he may be preoccupied with a matter concerning a single job - that is, the leadership of his own political party. At the core of what we are seeking to address, however, is the issue in regard to many multiples of jobs across Quinn Insurance in Cavan, Enniskillen, Blanchardstown, Navan and elsewhere. Our concerns are real and valid, and we have very important questions to put to the Minister.

We would like to know the full extent of his information on the so described Quinn-Anglo proposals in regard to the future of Quinn Insurance Limited. We would like to know the information he has on how that worked out set of proposals over a period of several months was derailed in terms of its final journey. We would like to know what influences were brought to bear to derail that very sound set of proposals that guarantees the future of the existing jobs in all of the current sites and offered the best prospect of the return of the €2.8 billion owed to the taxpayer - to Anglo Irish Bank now in State ownership - from the Quinn family.

It defies our understanding at this point in time, in the absence of all the information, to appreciate how we could have arrived at this position when after a period of some nine months Quinn Insurance representatives of Anglo Irish Bank, leading up to the Christmas period at the end of last month, were working continuously and fastidiously on developing their proposals and fine-tuning the detail in regard to projections of Quinn Insurance into the future.

We have key and salient questions but, sadly, the Minister is not present and the Minister of State, Deputy White, will deliver what is a prepared response. That is not adequate and, with colleagues here, we are seeking a direct meeting with the Minister for Finance, which I hope will be accommodated at the earliest opportunity. The Minister's reflection of this appeal, on an all-party basis, would be much appreciated.

I hope that in a short period of days this collective of Deputies and Senators across the region, and colleagues from north of the Border who are cosigned to our appeal, will have that opportunity to meet with the Minister for Finance as we are already now embarked on engaging with several of the other decision makers and stakeholders in this very sorry saga.

See this speech in context