MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan is being kept briefed on meetings which took place between Quinn and Anglo Irish Bank over the weekend, although Mr Lenihan’s department has no direct involvement in the talks.
Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, a Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan, said that very intense discussions were continuing “among interested parties” to find a commercial solution that best protected employment and ensured regulatory requirements were met.
Mr Smith said that very substantial money was owed to Anglo by Quinn. “Naturally Anglo will want to recover that debt and they will make a commercial decision based on the best plans of recovering that debt,” he said.
The Minister told RTÉ Radio One's This Weekprogramme that while Anglo operated at "arm's length" from the Department of Finance, if there was to be any discussion of restructuring of debt, "that would come back to the Minister or to Government for decision".
“What has been speculated upon is that Anglo, naturally, want to recover their debt and, if an investment by Anglo on a commercial basis strengthened their ability to recover their debt, then options like that would obviously be considered by Anglo management.”
He said that Seán Quinn had never denied making a wrong decision in regard to an investment, but he had also made very important and innovative decisions over the years that had developed his company to an employer of 5,500 people.
Mr Smith said he had not spoken to Mr Quinn recently, but had met many of his employees, “who would be neighbours and friends of mine”.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s deputy finance spokesman Kieran O’Donnell has called on the Minister for Finance to attend the Oireachtas finance committee tomorrow.
“We haven’t heard anything from him in terms of how he views the question of Anglo being involved in the Quinn Group,” Mr O’Donnell said.
“Anglo is a potentially insolvent bank. Anglo appears to have no expertise in the insurance area . . . we are concerned not only about sustainable jobs for the people working in the Quinn Group and Quinn Insurance but also about protecting the interests of the taxpayers and the policy holders in the Quinn Group itself.”
