Published: Wednesday, 12th May, 2010 5:00pm
Quinn treated unfairly and Cavan suffers
by Tom Carron
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Cllr. Des Boylan.
The uneven playing field that enables the VHI to have a lesser solvency requirement than Quinn Insurance was a classic example of unfairness and was a big factor in people from this county and this region losing their jobs.
This was claimed by Cllr. Des Boylan when speaking on the issue at Monday's meeting of Cavan County Council.
"Whatever little mistakes that Sean Quinn has made, and we all make mistakes, he is not being treated fairly and equitably," stated Cllr. Boylan when commenting on the response of the Financial Regulator to representations made by the council in respect of Quinn Insurance.
According to Des Boylan the problems at Quinn Insurance should have been resolved in the interests of County Cavan and surrounding counties. The Ballyjamesdjuff FG councillor complemented The Anglo-Celt for its leading article of last week, which dealt with the Quinn Insurance problems and the uneven playing field as regards solvency imposed on Quinn and other private insurers as compared to the state owned VHI.
In his letter dated 20 April, 2010 the Financial Regulator stated: "I would like to assure you that having considered all of the issues we acted in accordance with our statutory duty to protect the interests of the policy holders of Quinn Insurance Ltd in the face of a serious and persistent breach of statutory requirements.
"Following the confirmation of the appointment of administrators discussions are now under way with regard to the future of QIL with a view to resolving matters."
Cllr. Paddy O'Reilly remarked that this letter from Matthew Elderfield was almost similar to the one that they had already received. He suggested that there were stark comparisons between what was happening now at Quinn Insurance and what took place when Larry Goodman's Goodman Group got into difficulty over 20 years ago. If the Goodman Group had been allowed collapse it would have destroyed the Irish beef industry and wreaked havoc on Irish farmers at that time. However, the then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, stepped in and safeguarded the industry - Goodman sold off some of his assets and in time a number of investors invested in the company.
"For the life of me I can't understand why the government sat idly by and didn't deal with this solvency issue. I think the government has an awful lot to answer for in this debacle. I have to admire Sean Quinn for what he has done for the county and for country," stated Paddy O'Reilly.
Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feeley also wasn't content with the reply from the Regulator and referring to the proposed redundancy of Quinn Insurance workers he remarked that it was cold comfort that the real source of the problem was a certain Mr. Fitzpatrick of Anglo Irish Bank.
"We hope that all of those who engaged in irresponsible economic activity will face the full consequences of their actions," said Cllr. Feeley.
The West Cavan FF representative described the Financial Regulator as having acted in an over zealous fashion in closing the UK market to Quinn Insurance. However, he said it was unfair to say that anyone in political life in this county had stood idly by.
"They acted immediately on foot of requests made to them by staff of the Quinn Group. Minister Smith and the Taoiseach were fully appraised; Minister Smith arranged meetings and the Taoiseach has met Sean Quinn himself. Tomorrow the Taoiseach is meeting representatives of the Quinn staff and of the chamber of commerce here in this county. Were it not for the guarantees given by the government it wouldn't have been possible to re-open the UK market to Quinn Insurance," stated Cllr. Feeley.
The letter from the Regulator had nothing positive in it, according to Cllr. Charlie Boylan who also criticised the local media for not reporting the special meeting of the council held to discuss the difficulties at Quinn Insurance (A full report was carried on The Anglo-Celt website).
"The concerns of the councillors should have been let known to the public at large. They didn't know that we had such a meeting," stated Cllr. Boylan.
The Sinn Féin councillor had strong words for the Financial Regulator stating that he should have moved to resolve the difficulties at Quinn Insurance before taking the detrimental action of closing off the UK market which was now a hard task to recover.
Peter McVitty referred to the meeting that Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had with the Quinn workers and said it was sad to talk with people faced with the prospect of losing their jobs. He described as "claptrap" the talk about ministers coming down to Cavan, claiming that there was no point in Minister Batt O'Keeffe coming down after the announcement of the 900 redundancies.
"There is no point in talking when the jobs are gone. There was a statement that they were going to offer people training through FÁS but these people are well trained; all they want to do is work," said Cllr. McVitty.
Endorsing the points made by John Paul Feeley, Sean Smith took issue with those who were taking swipes at Ministers over the Quinn crisis. No Minister wanted to see jobs lost and negative talk would not get us anywhere.
"It is vital the steps which are being taken to ensure the long term viability of the Quinn Group which generates most for this county. I can guarantee that everything that can be done will be done," stated Cllr. Smith.
Shane P. O'Reilly stressed the job training initiative, revealing that moves were in progress by Cavan VEC, Cavan Institute and the Institutes of Technology to provide courses for the Quinn Insurance employees. This matter was also taken on board by Madeleine Argue (Chairperson of Cavan VEC) who urged council to write to the Minister for Education asking her to increase the number of places at Cavan Institute, which already had 3,000 applicants for the coming year.
The Minister should also be lobbied to provide degree courses in Cavan, stated Cllr. Argue.
Cavan County Manager, Jack Keyes, stated that all of the agencies were working together under the chairmanship of Dan Flinter former CEO of Enterprise Ireland in their efforts to assist the Quinn Insurance employees in whatever way possible.
Those workers were highly skilled and a multi faceted response was needed which included job replacement with Cavan deserving to be prioritised as a region.
Cllr. Patricia Walsh said that she had two daughters working in Quinn Insurance and while the redundancy package was good Quinn Insurance employees felt that the two week deadline given to make a decision was too short and must be extended.
The chairman, Winston Bennett, recommended that the council send a letter to the Quinn employees empathising with them in their difficulties and pointing out that the council did hold a special meeting to discuss the issue.
It was also decided to write to the Minister for Education asking for an increase in the student complement at Cavan Institute and the provision of degree courses there.
