Jimmy Harte (Labour)

We did, and with several other bodies. Ordinary people on the street were wondering how Quinn Insurance could do business at a figure one quarter of what massive companies such as Hibernian Insurance, Norwich Union and Axa, companies which have been in business for 200 or 300 years and experienced two world wars and depressions, were offering. They could not match it.

One of the reasons the compensation fund is in place is that there is a need to bail out the Quinn Insurance Group in respect of its property holdings. The accountants for Quinn Insurance Group have a lot to answer for. When ordinary small businesses get into such trouble, they do not have the Government on which to fall back. However, the taxpayer has been underwriting Quinn Insurance for years. The chickens have now come home to roost and we do not have any choice. I regret this because the people who are paying for it are those who are paying house and motor insurance, which are necessities, not luxury goods. People can choose not to go on a holiday and not to take out travel insurance but one cannot afford not to take out house or motor insurance. Mr. Quinn and the regulator knew exactly what they were at and Mr. Quinn decided to dabble in the UK market without due diligence. He had a company, Quinn Life, but I am not sure if it is still operating. The web page for it makes it clear that the value of one's investments may go up as well as down. Obviously, Mr. Quinn did not read this.

Mr. Quinn, who was the head of an organisation, had many friends throughout the country who advised him to think outside the box which is another name for breaking the regulations. The same happened with the banks. The buzzwords coming from America were to think outside the box, which basically meant to break the rules and we would all be better off. At the end of the day, we the citizens are paying for Seán Quinn's foolhardy notions of grandeur. This is a deficit of almost €1 billion which, added to the €3 billion that Mr. Quinn has cost the taxpayer through Anglo Irish Bank, amounts to a total of €4 billion to be picked up by the taxpayer. That amount of money would run a small country. This was a man who stated on television that he gambled €2 playing 25 on a Monday night, yet he did not read his own company's website or listen to the regulator or the regulator did not tell him what he should be doing. I realise this debate has to be guillotined and we do not have a choice. It would be great if we could walk away and say that somebody else or Europe will pick up the tab. We do not have that choice.