Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

I am glad to hear about the meetings the Minister, Deputy Bruton, attended. To what extent did the Minister and the State agencies engage? The impression I get from the Minister of State's speech, and more particularly from the Taoiseach's replies today, is that the Government and the State agencies appear to be passive recipients of information from Aviva rather than actively engaging with the company to discuss any problems it had and whether those problems could be solved with a view to averting at least some of the job losses.

Is the Government now working on any proposals to alleviate this situation? Has it engaged with the company or is it in the process of so doing to see whether specific measures can be taken to make it as easy as possible for the company to retain as many jobs as possible? I reiterate my question about what is happening in regard to other players in the insurance business. Have they been spoken to with a view to their problems and to averting potential further employment catastrophes in this line later in the year?

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