No talks between IBRC liquidators and Seán Quinn

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said no settlement discussions are under way between the special liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) and Northern Ireland businessman Seán Quinn and his family.

The IBRC liquidators and the Quinns have been in dispute for a number of years over loans of €2.3 billion connected with the former Anglo Irish Bank.

It was reported last year that settlement discussions were taking place between the two sides but these eventually broke down.

In a written answer to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath, Mr Noonan said: “I am advised by the special liquidators that there are no ongoing settlement discussions with the party referred to in the question [Seán Quinn and his family] or any of their representatives at this time.

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“Generally speaking, my officials and I would be kept informed by the special liquidators at a high level of any such discussions between them and the party referred to . . . but the detail of such discussions between both parties would be a matter for the special liquidators in the context of their overriding legal obligations and neither I nor my officials would have any input into them.”

Costs

Mr Noonan declined to comment on the costs incurred to date by the liquidators on the legal dispute with the Quinns.

“They [the liquidators] are not in a position to provide the requested information due to commercial confidentiality and ongoing litigation involving the party referred to in the question,” the minister said.

IBRC was liquidated by the State in February 2013, with Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG appointed as special liquidators.

Mr Quinn was Ireland’s richest man before the economy crashed in late 2008 but he lost control of his business empire in 2010, having borrowed heavily to buy shares in Anglo Irish Bank, which was bailed out by taxpayers in 2009.

Mr Quinn was later declared bankrupt, emerging from the process in 2015.