asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he has investigated the claims by the former chairman of PMPA as contained in his letter of 18 July last to the Minister requesting the return of the company to its shareholders; and if he will confirm that the figures contained in the chairman's letter with regard to provision for outstanding and unsettled claims are correct.
Written Answers. - PMPA's Former Chairman's Claims.
44.
Limerick East): In his letter of 18 July 1986 the former chairman of the PMPA stated that the administrator's estimate of claims liabilities at 31 December 1983 of £217.5 million was over-stated by £143.7 million because payments in 1984 in respect of claims from the period 1978 to 1983 totalled only £73.8 million. In arriving at this conclusion, the former chairman ignored the 8,402 claims relating to that period which remained outstanding at 31 December 1984 and in respect of which reserves of £128.2 million were held for settlements subsequent to that date.
The 1985 audited statutory returns submitted by the administrator show that, compared with a figure of £57.9 million provided by the former management at 31 December 1982 for 1978-82 claims outstanding as of that date, payments on these claims in the years 1983, 1984 and 1985 amounted to £157.9 million with further reserves of £30.4 million being held against 1978-82 claims remaining to be settled. The shortfall of £100 million which has already arisen in respect of these claims, together with the further reserves of £30 million being held, indicate the extent of under-provisioning for outstanding claims by the former management of the PMPA.