quinn direct insurance

The High Court has appointed two joint provisional administrators to Quinn Insurance Ltd.

Mr Justice John Cooke made the order following an application by lawyers on behalf of the Financial Regulator.

The application was made under the 1983 Insurance Act.

Michael McAteer and Paul McCann from Grant Thornton have been appointed by the High Court to act as the two joint provisional administrators.

They have been instructed to begin their work immediately.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mr McCann said customers in Ireland would not be affected and a decision on whether to sell the company would be made in the future.

The court heard the Regulator took this action following serious concerns about the way the group was managing its affairs.

It is understood the issues relate to solvency requirements. The administrators will have the option of seeking well-capitalised new owners for the business.

The Financial Regulator said Quinn Insurance’s Irish policy holders can continue to renew policies, carry out new business and make claims in the normal way.

It said the appointment of administrators would better protect policy holders.

Regulator Mathew Elderfield said he does have concerns about the financial state of the Quinn Group, but he said there was a reasonable prospect that the administrators will find a buyer.

The regulator now has an on-site presence in the company’s offices.

The administrators will run only the general insurance business, which offers home, health, motor and public liability insurance.

Decision puts jobs at 5,500 risk – Quinn board

The board of the Quinn Group, which owns Quinn Insurance, has reacted angrily to the regulator’s action.

It has sent a letter to all Government ministers warning that the regulator’s move would put 5,500 jobs in Ireland at risk unless ‘immediately reversed’.

The letter describes the regulator’s action as ‘highly aggressive and unnecessary’, adding that it would make the repayment of its outstanding debt extremely difficult.

It says Quinn Group is on target to make profits of up to €1.2bn over the next three years and adds that the group is ‘on schedule’ to pay back all money borrowed from financial institutions.

The board asked why the regulator was taking this action now when it and its insurance subsidiary were in a position to meet all their cash obligations.

The Quinn Group says being placed in provisional administration ‘is deeply disappointing in the context of the continued profitability of the group which is currently in excess of €20m per month’.

‘We feel that this issue could have been resolved to the benefit of all in a relatively short space of time and we will be working with the regulator and the provisional administrators to resolve all outstanding matters,’ read the statement.

Quinn says the business continues to trade as a going concern and that all other group businesses are unaffected.

Minister for Health Mary Harney has said the appointment of administrators to Quinn poses no immediate concern to the health insurance market.

She told the Select Committee on Health and Children that Quinn has 23% of the private health insurance market.

The largest independent car rental company in Ireland has warned of a looming crisis for the coming tourist season because of a lack of vehicles for rent.

Limerick-based Dan Dooley Car Rentals said that the severe shortage of cars in the rental fleet across Ireland could cost the coming tourist season over €200m.

A recent report on the car rental shortages stated that the number of cars on offer has fallen from 30,000 in 2006 to over 12,000 last year.

The manager of Dan Dooley Motors, Pat Dooley, said today that the shortages will be felt by visitors over the Easter break but warned that it will become severe over the summer.

He added that rental costs in Ireland due to the shortages are already more expensive that in England, Scotland and Wales, which will have an added negative effect on the tourism industry in Ireland.

The car rental industry is blaming Government changes to the VRT rebate system, coupled with difficulties by car dealers in getting finance from banks, for the crisis.

It is asking the new Minister for Tourism, Mary Hanafin, to deal with the issue as a matter of urgency.

Shannon Development, the regional tourism authority for the Shannon Region, has also voiced its concern about the issue.

‘The car rental sector is a key component of the tourism economy,’ said Pat Daly, Tourism and Marketing Division Manager with Shannon Development.

‘One third of all overseas holidaymakers hire a car while in Ireland and the projected shortage in the car rental fleet will have major knock on effects for all sectors of the tourism industry,’ he added.

Today’s newly released statistics from the Motorcheck.ie Car Index show that new car registrations for the month of February exceeded those recorded last year by an encouraging 55%. This relates to 12,310 units for 2010 as compared with 7,896 in 2009. 

Commenting on the major increase Motorcheck.ie Director Shane Teskey says “It’s great to see sales rising at such a level. The government scrappage scheme has given the industry a much needed boost. One significant benefit is that buying a new car is no longer seen as ‘politically incorrect’ and consumers are starting to take advantage of the highly discounted pricing strategy adopted by manufacturers”. 

Total sales for 2010 are now 21% ahead of 2009 and with pre-orders building look set to continue ahead of last years low. 

The number of used cars being imported into the state has also started to increase. Although still behind last year’s figures by 25% this is a substantial improvement on the 46% drop experienced in January. 

League Table

Top of the table for ‘Manufacturer’ in February is Toyota with 4,036 registrations. Ford comes second just 105 registrations behind with their Fiesta and Focus models have proven to be first and second most popular models with 1,471 and 1,348 respectively.

Diesel continues to outsell Petrol with 59% (17,047) of new vehicles registered.

Band B moves up a percentage point as the most common tax class with 44% (12,750) of all registrations.

The battle for most popular colour gets close as only 17 registrations now separates Silver (7,157) from Black (7,140) as the most popular colour on Irish roads.

There have been 86 convertibles registered in Ireland so far this year. 

Further information please contact: 

Shane Teskey         

steskey@motorcheck.ie           

Tel: 086 8079066

The Government has rejected calls by local authorities from all over Ireland for more money to repair roads destroyed by months of bad weather.

Announcing this year’s allocation of more than €411m for the local and regional road networks, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said that while he wanted badly damaged roads to be prioritised, there would be no extra funding for repairs.

Roads have been damaged in recent months because of snow, ice and flooding.

Drivers have been warned to take care on the roads as ice and snow are making conditions difficult with temperatures below zero on many national routes.

There is also frost and fog in some areas and motorists are advised to use their fog lights in affected areas.

Heavy snow in Co Kerry has closed the Conor Pass near Dingle, while motorists are warned to take extra care in the Ennis area of Co Clare.

Fog is adding to problems caused by black ice in Co Wexford and there have been several minor crashes in the New Ross area this morning.

There has been heavy snow in Letterkenny in Donegal and ice around Glenties is making road conditions difficult.

Met Éireann has forecast more sleet and snow for this evening and tonight over parts of Munster and Leinster.

If you are looking for sandbags to clear the drive-way, you can visit sandbag.ie website…

A proposal to amend the 30km speed limit zone in Dublin city centre is to be considered by the Council’s transport committee.

The motion from Labour Party councillors would mean the re-introduction of the 50km limit along most of the quays.

Look at a current map of the 30km limit area

The 30km speed limit was brought by Labour councillors and received cross-party support.

The proposed amendment follows widespread opposition to the new limit including that of Labour party leader Eamon Gilmore.

Labour councillors feel there was a lack of information about the area affected with many people believing it covered the entire city centre.

Councillors are proposing to amend the zone with the section from O’Connell St to Capel St bridges remaining as the only part of the quays at 30km. All other parts of the quays along with Winetavern St and Kildare St would be 50km.

The 30km zone would remain in place bordered by, but not including, Bolton St in the north to most of St Stephen’s Green in the south.

The councillors have also called on legal changes to allow different speed limits at different times of the day.

In his report, Dublin City Council Executive Manager Tim O’Sullivan said the new limit had not caused any traffic congestion and added just one and a half minutes to a 2km journey time.

He also said lower speed limits have been proven to be safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Mr O’Sullivan said a further period of public consultation would be necessary to amend the bye-laws.

The transport committee will hear the amendment motion on Thursday while a motion to scrap the entire limit will come before a full council meeting on 1 March.

MOTORCHECK.IE CALLS FOR NATIONAL RECALL DATABASE 

Motorcheck.ie Director and co-founder, Shane Teskey today called for a change to the way vehicles are “recalled” for urgent repairs by their manufacturer.

 Motorcheck.ie has identified gaps in the current methodology which could lead to thousands of cars operating on Irish roads without notification of urgent repairs called for by the manufacturer.

 Mr. Teskey has called for the establishment of one central database where each manufacturer would record details of past, current and future recall campaigns. A similar system operated by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency in the UK (VOSA) carries details in excess of 5 thousand separate recalls, many of which could have been relevant for Irish drivers.

 ”The present system which relies mostly on written correspondence from the manufacturer to the registered owner is flawed and liable to leave thousands of affected car owners uninformed about the urgent repairs required” he said.

 European legislation requires that vehicle recalls are administered by the most competent authority in the state. In Ireland this duty falls to the Department of Transport that manages the National Vehicle and Driver File. 

 When a ‘Recall Campaign’ is deemed necessary, the Department provides the manufacturer with the recorded names and addresses for the present registered owners who are subsequently informed by writing of the remedial action required.

 There are many reasons why this important information may never reach the current keeper.

* The owners current address may be different to that recorded on the government database

* The registered owner may not be the actual user of the car

* Title to the vehicle may have recently changed hands and the change of ownership not yet been processed

* The vehicle may have been privately imported and subsequently overlooked by the local distributor carrying out the recall

Usually, details of a recall campaign are communicated in writing to the registered owner and direct to the local franchised dealer tasked with carrying out the repair on behalf of the manufacturer. This way, important repairs are often carried out along with the normal servicing. However, In the current economic climate many consumers choose to have their cars serviced by non-franchise operators who may not have access to the manufacturers diagnostic equipment or internal communications. If the mechanic working on the vehicle doesn’t have the information, the repair could go undetected and cause serious trouble further down the line.

 ”The recent publicity surrounding recalls currently in operation with Toyota, Honda and Peugeot have drawn attention to a problematic area that requires immediate attention” says Teskey. “At Motorcheck we take matters of road safety and vehicle maintenance very seriously. Rather than wait for government to draft legislation on this we have decided to release our own National Recall Database. Adopting ‘best practice’ from the UK it will be hosted online at www.motorcheck.ie/blog/recalls and be completely free to use for both industry operators and concerned members of the public”.

Further information please contact 

Shane Teskey
Tel: 086 8079066

Benchmark Fleet Services Limited