Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, and am glad to have this opportunity to speak on this matter. It is important to have a strong insurance business in the country. I know the difficulties the Quinn group is going through at the moment, which I presume will have consequences for the insurance industry. The Quinn group is a major employer, not just in insurance but also in various other enterprises. Seán Quinn has been a great entrepreneur and he deserves credit for the tremendous amount of employment he has created in this country.

It is important to have a sound, strong insurance business sector to cover industry and small businesses as well as to provide motor insurance. The regulator has taken steps to deal with the Quinn Group; obviously, he has seen shortcomings in the insurance aspect of its business. I hope there can be a good conclusion to this. The Quinn Group has indicated it can trade out of this and I hope this is the case. It is an indigenous company and it deserves all the backing it can get. From that point of view, the insurance industry is important to the economy and to the people. It is a large employer, but that is not the most important aspect of the industry from the point of view of this debate. I hope we can strengthen our insurance commitments and business throughout the country.