Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, to the House and congratulate him on his election and appointment as Minister of State. I wish him many long years in the House.

Since March 2010, a cloud of uncertainty has covered the employees of Quinn Insurance Limited in Enniskillen, Navan, Blanchardstown, my native county of Cavan and neighbouring counties. Thousands of families were plunged into uncertainty about their future following the hasty and undue action taken by the Financial Regulator, Mr. Matthew Elderfield, to have provisional joint administrators appointed by the High Court to Quinn Insurance Limited. This action was taken without notice being given to the company.

Since then, 1,000 redundancies have been announced, 700 of which have taken effect. I understand the Quinn family submitted a plan in early April 2011 to the Government. Last Thursday, as over 90,000 signatures were handed to a representative of the Minister for Finance at the Kildare Street gates of Leinster House in support of the Quinn family proposal, which would see the State repaid €2.8 billion owed to Anglo Irish Bank by the Quinn family, a spokesperson for the Minister, Deputy Noonan, informed the nation that Anglo Irish Bank had gone to the High Court to have a receiver appointed to the Quinn family shares in the Quinn Group. This resulted in Seán Quinn and his family being removed from any involvement whatsoever in the Quinn Group.

I want to put on the record of the House my admiration for Seán Quinn and his family. He started 38 years ago, as I have said on many occasions in this House, and provided a job for himself selling sand and gravel in west Cavan and Fermanagh. Some 38 years later, he has created over 7,000 jobs internationally, 5,500 of which are based in the 32 counties of this country. Many thousands of those jobs are in my native county of Cavan and surrounding counties.

I consider him to be a practical patriot. He has provided jobs in an area of this island that nobody else would even contemplate looking at, not to mention providing jobs. The impact of the Quinn Group on County Cavan alone is phenomenal. It directly employs over 2,000 people and operates the internationally renowned Slieve Russell Hotel, the greatest tourist attraction in the north west or north east.

It accounts for up to one third of manufacturing and service-based employment in County Cavan and provides more than €60 million per annum in direct wages to employees in the area, combined with indirect contractors, sub-suppliers, etc., which contributes over €200 million per annum to the local economy. The Quinn Group has and continues to provide employment opportunities and economic development in some of the most marginalised areas of this country.

To a large extent, these jobs are irreplaceable. For example, the Slieve Russell Hotel put Cavan and the Border region on the tourism map and provided opportunities for women returning to work which in turn enabled many young people of today to go on to third level or further education. Many people were afforded the opportunity to return to their native county to work and raise their families. The social impact of this must not be overlooked.

In overall terms, the impact of the group is immeasurable. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the all-party Oireachtas group which has worked on this issue for over 12 months. I want to pay particular tribute to a former colleague of this House, Deputy Joe O'Reilly, who along with me tabled many motions in this regard over the 12-month period which the Cathaoirleach was good enough to accept.

I pay tribute also to my constituency colleagues, Deputy Brendan Smith, former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Dr. Rory O'Hanlon, Seymour Crawford and Margaret Conlon, who are no longer Members of the Oireachtas, and Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who is the convener of the all-party group. We worked tirelessly together on this issue for over 12 months and the main emphasis of our work is to protect the existing jobs in the Quinn Group, Quinn Insurance Limited and all the various other operations the Quinn group controlled.

I understand the proposal submitted to the Minister for Finance in early April of this year would see the State regain the €2.8 billion owed to it through Anglo Irish Bank over a seven year period. Why was that proposal not afforded full detailed examination and, having received that application, why was the decision taken to move in rapidly to acquire the shares of the Quinn family and to sell the insurance company? The least the employees and the Quinn family are entitled to is that the proposal, which would have seen the State regain €2.8 billion of its money returned to it over a seven year period, be examined.