Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 65: To ask the Minister for Finance the consideration that was given to the Quinn proposals to re-establish Quinn ownership. [9942/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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At the outset you should be aware that the sale of the QIL business is a matter for the Joint Administrators. It is important to be clear that neither I as Minister for Finance nor the Government had any input into the decision to select Liberty Mutual/Anglo as the preferred bidder. In relation to what consideration was given to the Quinn proposals to re-establish Quinn ownership, the Joint Administrators have indicated to my Department that the Quinn proposal was only received several weeks ahead of the recent announcement on the sale of Quinn Insurance and several months after the closing date for submission of interest. They say that the proposal was highly conditional in nature as it depended, amongst other things, on the State intervening to facilitate the transfer of €2.8 billion of debt from Anglo to one of the viable banks and to require that bank to provide a further €500 million loan to the Quinn Group, as well as agreement with the bondholders. As such they saw no likelihood for such a proposal being facilitated in the current economic climate, as the taking on of such loans by other banks was likely to compound their already difficult position and in addition would also be likely to contravene European State Aid rules. They were also of the view that reaching agreement with the bondholders in relation to the releasing of the guarantees over QIL assets was going to be extremely difficult if not close to impossible.