Stakes could not be higher in Quinn drama

The 200 staff members at Quinn Direct in Navan must wait another week to learn the fate of their employer. Another six days of uncertainty coming on the back of an already traumatic week which has seen their hopes ebb and flow with the dawning of each new day. Sean Quinn's insurance arm, which employs over 2,000 people throughout the Republic and Northern Ireland, is at present under the control of provisional administrators after the Financial Regulator became concerned over its cash reserve levels. State-owned Anglo Irish Bank, which is owed billions of euro in loans by the Quinn Group and the Quinn family, wants to take over the business and restructure the payments in the hope of getting its money back. It would, as part of any deal, inject cash into the business to deal with its immediate solvency issue. Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield has given the Anglo plan a cool reception, believing that Anglo would do a Quinn deal on less favourable terms than a new buyer, thereby putting fresh pressure on its already troubled balance sheet. To most people, the thought of this failed institution sinking a further €700m of taxpayers' money into Sean Quinn's companies after the latter's spectacular €3bn gamble on Anglo shares, is difficult to take. Yet, for Quinn and his group, it may have represented the best chance to salvage his empire. It's all complicated stuff but it is a very high stakes game indeed with the fate of about 5,500 jobs hanging in the balance. Mr Elderfield wanted to have permanent administrators appointed to the company by the High Court on Monday, but this has been adjourned for a week to give lawyers for the regulator time to respond to legal submissions made on behalf of Quinn. This, at least, buys the parties time to reach a solution that can satisfy everyone, and it is time that must be used wisely to see if a deal can be struck before the court hears the matter again next Monday. For Sean Quinn, the self-made billionaire who is lionised in north Cavan for the transformational effect his companies have had in the border region and the employment he has given, there is a very strong possibility that he will lose control of certainly his insurance company, but possibly his whole group, depending on what way the cards fall over the next week. The stalled Anglo plan probably represented the best chance for him to retain some control but having permanent administrators appointed by the High Court next week would lead to the break-up of the group and the sale ot its assets. Quinn admirably has had a policy of no redundancies in his companies but that would almost certainly change if new buyers came into the picture. That fear is what is occupying the minds of the 200 workers at Quinn Direct at Johnstown in Navan this week. More than 90 per cent of the staff employed at Quinn's Navan office are from Meath and employees are understandably deeply worried about the future of their jobs. Because the Navan offices deal mostly with the UK and Northern Ireland market, it is a top priority for staff there that the company is able to commence writing new business for that market as soon as possible. Quinn's presence in Navan is reckoned to be worth a substantial €5 million annually to the economy of Navan and the wider Meath area. No blame in this fiasco can attach to the Financial Regulator, Mr Elderfield. The undoing of the Quinn Group has been down to Mr Quinn himself who appears not to have learned from his 2008 experience when he and his company were fined heavily for breaches of the insurance regulations. Mr Elderfield is there to do a job and that is to tightly police financial institutions. Let us not forget that it was so-called light touch regulation that has landed this country in the mess it currently finds itself, so a no-nonsense overseer is what is required to ensure rules are neither bent nor broken anymore. Having said that, it is not in anyone's interests that the Quinn Group is wound up or suffers widespread job losses. It represents a critical source of employment for thousands from north Dublin to the border and its impact through secondary spending is incalculable. It is in the country's interests that a way out of this situation is found that will preserve the maximum number of jobs in the Quinn Group. The biggest concern is that, with the insurance business being the major cash generator for the group at the present time, any severing of this artery would make it very difficult for the remainder of the group to survive. For Mr Elderfield, on the other hand, if the High Court does not grant him his wish for administration, his credibility and authority will be seriously undermined. That, in the current climate, is something this country cannot countenance either when we are trying to send a message to the outside world that we are putting the past behind us and moving into a new era of accountability and responsibility when it comes to banking and the financial industry. This situation requires cool heads and clear and imaginative thinking on the part of all involved to reach a breakthrough on Quinn Direct before next Monday. The alternative may not bear thinking about.