Seanad debates

Tuesday, 30 March 2010

2:30 pm

Photo of Paul CoghlanPaul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I also welcome the draft agreement that emerged from the negotiations at Croke Park in the early hours of the morning. Given our current situation, the agreement is realistic in nature and I hope its emergence augurs well for the economy. I wish it a fair wind and hope it will bring finality in respect of the current uncertainty.

As previous speakers stressed, Quinn Insurance has merely been placed in administration. As in other sectors, competition is extremely important in insurance. The entry of the firm in question to the market has been extremely important in an overall context. I again stress that it is only the general insurance arm - the life and pensions business is not involved - that has been placed in administration which I hope will prove successful, particularly in the light of the various aspects of the matter and the jobs at stake that are vital to the economy. I do not like what I have heard but we must await the statement of the Minister for Finance.

There are so many matters which remain up in the air in respect of the banks. We do not know if the European Commission has made a definitive ruling on the sale of assets by the various institutions. The haircut that, it is hinted, will be applied in respect of loans from AIB seems particularly severe. I am delighted the Leader has arranged a debate on the banks for tomorrow. Such a debate is badly needed and timely. I hope it is not a make or break plan because we are in a period of change and readjustment and must be prepared to move on these lines. We await with interest what the Minister has to tell us and I hope it will lead to a final clear-out of the boards and at senior management level with the removal of those persons responsible for landing us in the appalling mess the State has to deal with. We will hear more on this anon and I am glad we will have a debate tomorrow morning.

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