Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 60: To ask the Minister for Finance if he is satisfied with the assurances given on job retention in the proposed Liberty Mutual/Anglo deal on Quinn Direct Insurance. [10025/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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At the outset the Deputy should note that as Minister for Finance I have had no direct dealings with Liberty Mutual in relation to this transaction including the issue of the future of all existing job-holders. However, I have been informed by the Joint Administrators that aside from the redundancies in Manchester, all the 1570 jobs in Quinn Insurance Ltd (QIL) have been protected for at least two years. I also understand that they will transfer to Liberty Mutual Direct Insurance Company Ltd under the Protection of Employees Rights on Transfer of Undertakings Regulations, thereby protecting their current terms and conditions. It is important to keep in mind that in assessing the bids for the business of QIL, the Joint Administrators were required to consider how best the interests of policyholders could be protected and how the company could be returned to a sound commercial footing. This was their primary responsibility under the powers given to them by the 1983 Insurance (No. 2) Act. While the retention and protection of employment was important, it was very much subject to the aforementioned responsibilities. In the circumstances therefore, the proposed Liberty Mutual/Anglo deal in my view represents an excellent outcome because it provides a commitment to maintain jobs for at least two years, as well as achieving its primary objective of protecting policyholders.

While no indication has been provided by Liberty Mutual as to what will happen at the end of the two year period in relation to jobs, I remain hopeful that they will be maintained. The main reason is that the QIL business has been purchased by a company which has an impressive track record in the insurance industry and which is also very conscious of the importance of ensuring competition in the Irish insurance market and appreciates its role in providing employment and economic development in the Border region and further afield.

The decision to appoint the Share Receiver to the Quinn Group by Anglo was very much a commercial one, into which I had no direct input, and also gives the Group grounds for hope of a viable future. In this regard, it should be noted that a Share Receiver is fundamentally different from a company receiver as it will not involve the sale of businesses or assets.

An agreement was also reached between Anglo and the senior lenders to the Quinn Group whereby the latter's €1.3 billion euro of debt is being restructured. This results in the removal of a long-running and significant uncertainty over these businesses, which are very strong businesses but which were over-indebted, and their lending facilities were in breach of covenant for some time. This will result in all or almost all manufacturing jobs being retained.

It is important to state clearly to the House that a viable future however depends to a large degree on the willingness by everybody, particularly those engaged in recent negative events, to engage wholeheartedly with the new ownership arrangements, and to begin to put their energies into growing the business and contributing to getting jobs back into the local economy on both sides of the border. This is very important because if this does not happen then, over time there is very likely to be a negative impact on the performance of the Group and consequences for jobs. None of us in the House want to see this.