Two accountants from Dublin must not be allowed to determine the future of thousands of workers who depend on the continued development of Quinn Enterprises in the border areas.

This was stated by Marian Harkin MEP when she called for an immediate statement on the Quinn Insurance administration in view of the elimination of Anglo Irish Bank from any future meaningful involvement.

She said “It would be the height of folly to persist with any sale of Quinn Insurance where the administrators are left with a single interested buyer to whom a great business could be handed merely to conclude a legal process.

“Quinn Insurance and the Quinn Group are much too important to be disposed of in an inadequate and, probably, unnecessary process with huge potential damage to the economic and social fabric of the border areas.

“Minister for Finance Brian Lenehan must not under any circumstances permit two accountants to decide the livelihoods of thousands.  It is totally unacceptable that those in control of the current process of administration in Quinn Insurance have refused to properly assess the viability of the Quinn Family shareholders proposition which has been validated by major international and Irish financial experts.

“I fully support the call from the cross party, cross border, group of politicians, Cavan Chamber of Commerce and Concerned Irish Business (CIB) to suspend the current administration process in Quinn Insurance which is not capable of delivering any solution which is in the interest of Irish taxpayers or the retention of vitally needed jobs in the border areas”, Marian Harkin MEP concluded.