Over 900 Quinn employees seek voluntary redundancy

THE ADMINISTRATORS of Quinn Insurance are believed to have received more than the 900 applications for voluntary redundancy that they were seeking from staff by yesterday’s 5pm deadline.

The administrators – Michael McAteer and Paul McCann of Grant Thornton – last night began processing the applications to see how many will qualify for the redundancy package that they put on the table.

A target number of redundancies has been set for each location from which Quinn Insurance operates.

In addition, targets have been set for each grade within the company. Not all of the applications will necessarily qualify for the redundancy package.

It is only when the administrators have matched the number of applications to each grade and location that they will be able to determine if they have enough expressions of interest to avoid any compulsory lay-offs.

On April 30th, the administrators announced their intention to make 900 staff redundant at Quinn Insurance to help restore the business to profitability.

This represented 37 per cent of the company’s 2,450-strong workforce. At the time of the announcement, they stated their desire for the redundancies to be voluntary rather than compulsory.

They said the job cuts would be implemented over a 15-month period up to mid-2011.

The job losses are targeted to achieve savings of €30 million annually.

The biggest hit will be felt at Quinn’s Blanchardstown office, where 301 redundancies are being sought. In Cavan, it is proposed to cut 226 positions, while 109 will go in Navan.

Four positions will be lost at Quinn’s office on O’Connell Street, Dublin, while 179 jobs will be cut at its Enniskillen branch.

In Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, 27 redundancies are proposed for its claims branch, and there will be 54 posts cut in Manchester and London.

Last week, Colin Morgan stepped down as chief executive of Quinn Insurance.

The Financial Regulator sought to have administrators appointed to Quinn Insurance on March 30th after the company failed to comply with solvency ratios.

The Quinn Group, which is run by the family of Seán Quinn, has since agreed to sell the business.

The administrators have received about 47 expressions of interest, including from Anglo Irish Bank, and US insurer Liberty Mutual.

In a report presented to the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, last week the administrators said a review by auditors had found that Quinn Insurance had under-provided for liabilities by €68 million last year.

The court was told that the firm made a loss of €47 million in 2009.