Quinn accepts administration

The High Court has confirmed the appointment of a full-time administrator at Quinn Insurance after the Quinn Group withdrew its objection this afternoon.

The Court heard this afternoon Quinn Insurance would be run by two outside managers with the aim of protecting jobs and putting the business back on a sure financial footing.

President of the High Court Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said he believed the administrators were aware of the concerns of employees.

"It was important to stress that it is part of the stated function of the administrators to carry it (Quinn Insurance) on as a going concern with a view to placing it on a sound commercial footing," the judge said. "No employment contract is determined by the appointment."

The regulator welcomed the move, which came two weeks after successfully applying to put the firm into provisional administration.

"It is the Financial Regulator's and QIL's opinion that this step is in the best interests of policyholders," the regulator said in a statement.

"QIL remains able to pay claims and renew policies in the normal way in the Republic of Ireland and continues to settle claims in the UK."

In a statement, administrators Paul McCann and Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton said a team on location in Cavan, Dublin, Navan, Manchester and Enniskillen would continue to assess the insurance business.

"As administrators of Quinn Insurance Limited it remains our court-appointed duty to place the company on a sound commercial and financial footing.

"We will continue to engage constructively with staff and management at QIL as we endeavour to secure the future of the company. Customers of the company continue to be unaffected by our appointment - all valid claims will be met."

Employees, who have held a number of demonstration in the past two weeks in a bid to highlight the threat to jobs, said they would support the decision.

"We believe that for all of us as employees it is vitally important that we give our full support to the administrative process in order that the business and jobs at Quinn remain viable. We believe the immediate concern for the administrator is to impress on the Regulator the importance of the Northern Ireland and UK business," they said in a statement.

"We feel the onus will be firmly with the regulator to lift the restriction and allow us to write new business in NI/UK markets once more."

Earlier today, employee representative Pat Rooney said the news was positive for staff. "We think it will bring some clarity to the situation. We're pleased with this result," he told RTÉ's News at One.

“We need to move on and understand how we get our business back to a sound financial footing. We need to get back to selling insurance in the UK, and if this is the only way to do it, it has to be done.”

Head of financial regulation at the Central Bank Matthew Elderfield told an Oireachtas Committee yesterday that there had been “serious and persistent breaches” of solvency rules at Quinn Insurance and he felt the appointment of permanent administrators to take control of the insurer was the best option for the 1.3 million policyholders.

Employees staged a number of protests at the regulator’s decision to stop Quinn Insurance taking on new business in the UK and Northern Ireland. Yesterday, they claimed that Quinn Insurance is losing up to €1.5 million a day over the ban.

A business plan for the UK operations was submitted to the regulator a week ago. A spokesman for the administrators said the regulator had since sought greater clarity on the plan. The new report is expected to be submitted to the regulator within 24 hours for his consideration.

Additional reporting: PA