Seanad debates

Tuesday, 30 March 2010

2:30 pm

Photo of Joe O'TooleJoe O'Toole (Independent)

For the last six months, a number of us here have been calling for everybody to move in the same direction to deal with the economy, and I refer in particular to the social partners. Senator Marc MacSharry has raised this many times and Senator Buttimer has done so as well. It is good to acknowledge the progress that has been made today.

It is discouraging to hear the response from the media. All the interviews to date have been to the effect that this is no deal at all and why anyone would accept it. Perhaps it is good to know this because it will be very difficult to sell to the membership of the trade unions. I commend the union leadership for putting the economy and the country first by backing this agreement in these troubled times. The Government has finally seen sense and recognised the importance of this.

Selling the agreement might be more difficult because everything was new before Christmas, but everyone is aware of it now. People are looking down the muzzle of job losses in the public sector and huge amounts of flexibility taking place. I hope these things happen, and I will do what I can to support it. We should acknowledge today that we are moving forward.

Senator Fitzgerald raised the important issue of the Quinn Group, which is something she and others have done before. I should declare that I have a remote interest in this in that I am vice-chair of the Injuries Board, which deals with this company all the time. I hope the Leader of the House will support my viewpoint because he chaired an important committee on insurance in the Lower House a couple of years ago. The last thing we need in this country is to lose an insurance company. Insurance has been competitive for the last four or five years. Five years ago in this House, we were talking about the cost to drivers of trying to get insurance, as well as the cost of insurance for companies and small businesses. We have finally cracked that but for the past year insurance companies have been using everything, including snow and flooding, to try to make the case for increasing premiums.

Losing a competitive company would be a bad move. It is important to recognise that this is more of the knock-on infection from Anglo Irish Bank. Anglo-Irish shares were being used by Quinn Insurance as part of its solvency fund. It should not have done, but did so and acknowledged it last year. That is the reason the company is now in trouble. However, this is not liquidation, receivership or examinership - it is administration.

I wish to correct one thing because I checked the relevant legislation earlier today. On the "News at One" somebody was asked if the administrators would consider selling the company. They gave the impression that this would be one of the things they would consider. I wish to read into the record, however, the fact that section 3 of the Insurance Act 1983, states:

An administrator shall take over the management of the business of the insurer and shall carry on that business as a going concern with a view to placing it on a sound commercial and financial footing.

That is what is required to be done here. People should recognise that we need this company and we must ensure it is regulated. We must also recognise that the Regulator has moved in very quickly. The company is trading profitably in this country, but is losing money in the UK; that part of the business is going to be closed, while the Irish end of it will be fine. Meeting the regulation as regards the level of solvency is what has created this problem. We need to ensure this company is maintained in the competitive insurance market.

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