John Ellis (Fianna Fail)

Quinn Insurance has taken business from some of the major global insurance companies and allowed people to continue in business. The knock-on effect of developments in the company will not only be the loss of 800 jobs. Companies which were unable to obtain competitive quotes from companies other than Quinn Insurance will be next in line. The number of jobs lost as a result will not be 800 but at least 10,000. While that is a frightening prospect, the figure could quickly rise to that level.

Rather than paying social welfare to such a large number of people, it would be preferable to provide a State guarantee for Quinn Insurance until such time as the company is in a position to provide a guarantee from its own resources. The Government should consider providing a guarantee for the administrators in the public interest. If this were done, it could help to save many jobs across Ireland and the United Kingdom where Quinn Insurance has provided bonds for builders who could not obtain them elsewhere, except at exorbitant rates, as well as public liability and other cover. If the company goes, the knock-on effect will be much worse than the loss of the 800 jobs directly threatened this morning. I put the figure at not less than 10,000.