Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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240. To ask the Minister for Finance the status in terms of resolving the outstanding claims associated with a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19389/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Setanta was placed into liquidation by the Malta Financial Services Authority on 30 April 2014. This liquidation is being carried out under Maltese law. As of 31 March 2017, the number of open claims is 1,649. Progress in the liquidation has been delayed due to court proceedings in the case of Law Society of Ireland v the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI). The focus of the court action is to determine whether it is the Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF) or MIBI which is responsible for the payment of third party claims.

The current position is that we are awaiting the outcome of MIBI's appeal to the High Court ruling, which was heard before the Supreme Court in October 2016. No date has been specified for the judgment.

It should be noted that 1st party claims (i.e where a person makes a claim against their own comprehensive insurance policy) are not affected by the court action. These come within the scope of the ICF and are being processed by the Office of the Accountant of the Courts of Justice up to a limit of 65% of the claim. To date the ICF has been able to make 1st party payments totalling €608,085 to Setanta policyholders.

The position in relation to 3rd party motor insurance claims is that they are unlikely to be processed until after the outcome of the Supreme Court appeal.

The Liquidator for Setanta has informed me that:

- Claims provision required stands at between €87.7 million and €95.2 million.

- Setanta policies were cancelled in May 2014. The 2 years allowable under the statute of limitation to lodge claims has expired so the claims figures will not increase further.

- The Liquidator reports that it is proving difficult to settle claims in advance of the outcome of the MIBI appeal.

- The Liquidator continues to be of the view that he will not be in a position to meet more than 30% of claims.

I expect to be able to provide a more accurate update after the legal proceedings are concluded.