Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Penrose has described it, the €2.5 million that was required to pay the statutory redundancy to the employees who were entitled to it had to come from the Social Insurance Fund - that is, it came from the contributions of others rather than from the company. Section 599 is a mechanism by which it might be possible to recover those funds either from the company or from connected companies. However, key to this prospect will be the advice of the Attorney General. If the advice is that we have a good chance of winning the case and that there is a good chance of recovering the money, then of course it would be my intention to proceed with that legal action. However, I must bear in mind the undesirability of exposing the taxpayer to a further loss by pursuing a case that may not be successful or one against a company that may not have the €2.5 million to repay to the Social Insurance Fund. These are the factors that must be taken into account - namely, whether there is a reasonable chance of the case being successful, and, if it were successful, whether the companies concerned have the money to pay back to the Social Insurance Fund.

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