Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 November 2018
46. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance when he expects the State Claims Agency to make an application to the High Court to seek authorisation to pay compensation to claimants involved in the liquidation of a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46346/18]
View answer47. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the time it takes on average for the State Claims Agency to make payments from the insurance compensation fund following a High Court approval; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46347/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 47 together.
Setanta Insurance was placed into liquidation by the Malta Financial Services Authority on 30 April 2014. As it was a Maltese incorporated company, the liquidation is being carried out under Maltese law.
The Deputy will be aware that the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2018 (Act 21 of 2018) was signed into law in July this year. The Act inter alia provides for revised arrangements for the on-going administration of the Insurance Compensation Fund, including for the relevant applications to the President of the High Court. These revised arrangements have now been put in place.
The State Claims Agency has now completed the necessary preparatory work in relation to the next tranche of Setanta claims, and have this week informed me that a High Court date has been agreed for 19 November. The Agency anticipates that payments to claimants will issue within 10 working days of release of the funds from the Insurance Compensation Fund on foot of the High Court order. Therefore, on the basis of this information, I anticipate that the next tranche of payments can be made to claimants in the late November/early December period.
It is expected that next tranche of claims will comprise in the region of 1,500 separate payments with a value of approximately €21 million, and will comprise of (a) newly settled claims requiring 100% payment, (b) all those cases where 65% was previously paid and where the balance of 35% is due and (c) a number of third party legal costs payments.
As you will appreciate with 1,500 separate payments, there is a considerable amount of detailed work attached to this process. Once these details are worked through for this first application, the process should work more efficiently for subsequent applications. You can rest assured however that every effort is being made to process all payments described as quickly as possible.
Finally, it should be noted that the process of settling claims is still ongoing and is subject in some cases to court procedures. The liquidator of Setanta estimates that the process of settling the vast majority of these outstanding claims should be completed by end-2019.
