Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Setanta Insurance was placed in liquidation by the Malta Financial Services Authority on 30 April 2014. As the company was incorporated in Malta, liquidation is being carried out under Maltese law.

As the Deputy is aware, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on 25 May 2017 and overturned the previous decisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal that the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland, MIBI, was liable in respect of third-party motor insurance claims made against the policyholders of Setanta Insurance. The consequence of this is that the insurance compensation fund, ICF, has been deemed responsible for the payment of such third-party claims. As a result, the industry has no liability for the residual claims outstanding following the liquidation.

Regarding the actuarial report on the liquidation of Setanta, the Deputy should note that it was the liquidator who commissioned actuarial consultants, Willis Towers Watson, to carry out an analysis of Setanta Insurance's claims reserves as at 30 June 2017. The liquidator sought this report for the purposes of internal management reporting and to assist in determining the potential shortfall in assets available to cover the remaining liabilities as part of the liquidation process. The contents of the report are commercially-sensitive in nature and were provided to me solely for the purposes of assessing the likely shortfall in the amount due to Setanta third-party claimants. Consequently, I am not in a position to publish the report.

Finally, as indicated previously, there is a legal concern that any Government intervention to fully compensate third-party claimants and then step into the shoes of these claimants to recover directly any balance due from the Setanta liquidation could result in the Government having a lower status in the creditor hierarchy and, thus, significantly reduce the amount it could recoup from the liquidator. In this respect, my Department has just received legal advice from a Maltese law firm on this matter. Officials are considering this advice and may need to consult the Office of the Attorney General before the Government can decide what to do about this issue.

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