Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the Minister and thank him for coming to the Seanad to discuss this important issue.

As Members will be aware, on Thursday, 25 June 2015, Liberty Insurance announced it would make 270 workers redundant, 135 in Blanchardstown, 115 in my home town of Cavan and 20 in Enniskillen. These redundancies are in addition to 285 job losses in the company in November 2012. Liberty Insurance, formerly known as Quinn Insurance, has been an important and major employer in Cavan town since its operations commenced in the mid-1990s. The sale of Quinn Insurance to Liberty Insurance was concluded in October 2011 when, I understand, the latter purchased 51% of the former for €1.While I understand there were some debts involved, in common with the people of County Cavan and surrounding counties, I still believe that Liberty Insurance got a good deal on that occasion and that it has an obligation to maintain jobs in that area of the country, as well as in Blanchardstown and Enniskillen. In a statement issued last Thursday, my colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, called on the Minister to engage immediately with Liberty Insurance with a view to retaining the maximum level of employment in this company and I join him in that call. He also stated clearly that when Liberty Insurance purchased the former Quinn Insurance in October 2011, at that time the company stated it would maintain more than 1,000 people in employment in the three areas. At that time, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, stated with regard to the sale of Quinn Insurance that he welcomed the positives of the proposed agreement in that almost all of the 1,500 jobs in Quinn Insurance would be retained. That figure speaks for itself when one now is talking about 950 jobs in the three locations. The company has stated the redundancies will take place over an 18-month period but I understand it has given employees two weeks in which to make life-changing decisions without providing the necessary advice and support to them to make such decisions. The staff were told that assistance will be provided once the voluntary process was complete but that is not acceptable. Once the process is complete will be too late to offer advice and assistance to these workers, as they need assistance now.

Although the company has offered voluntary redundancy, people have concerns that by accepting it, they will make wrong decisions that could have an impact on their social welfare and mortgage protection entitlements. Moreover, in the case of up to 40 workers who work as claims staff in the Cavan office, the decision really already has been taken out of their hands because their roles are being relocated to Blanchardstown. This decision makes absolutely no sense, given the collective experience of these people and that new people must be trained for these roles should the staff in County Cavan not relocate. Moreover, I understand the vast majority of them are not in a position to so do. I understand that the decision to move these claims jobs was made by the new head of claims, as he believes all claims staff should be based in the Dublin office and yet there is a mix of staff from other areas throughout all the sites.

Unfortunately, this company has been through this process before. The same human resources team and many of the senior management team are in place and yet the current process is flawed with no empathy or concern being shown for the employees. Liberty Insurance purchased the remaining 49% of the former Quinn Insurance in December 2013 and now has 100% ownership of this company. I ask the Minister to use his good offices to try to maintain the jobs in these three centres. I am particularly concerned with regard to the site in Cavan, which is the one I know best, but people in Enniskillen and Dublin also depend on this company for their jobs. Morale is at an all-time low in these three offices and the big fear is that Liberty Insurance is preparing to downsize, move jobs elsewhere and eventually to sell off the Irish operation. This is not good enough and if these jobs cannot be saved, I ask that the Minister have the statutory agencies to work with these workers as a matter of urgency.