Vol. 540 No. 2
90 Mr. Timmins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to the fact that a British based company (details supplied) has gone into voluntary liquidation; if her attention has further been drawn to the fact that this has the potential to cause severe difficulty for many Irish companies; if she will put some protective mechanism in place for these companies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20438/01]
The Tánaiste and I have been following closely developments in relation to Independent Insurance Company Limited, IICL, a UK insurer which went into voluntary liquidation on 18 June, with particular focus on the immediate implications for Irish policyholders and claimants. We are also concerned at the broader implications for the effective operation of the European Single Market in insurance. Contact is being maintained with the UK authorities and with the EU Commission, as well as with the provisional liquidators, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Irish Insurance Federation and the Irish Brokers Association.
Under the rules of the European Single Market, responsibility for financial supervision of the company's operations throughout the European Economic Area, EEA, lies with the UK authorities. The main objective of the EU system of financial supervision of insurance companies is to protect policyholders while giving them access to insurance cover from supervised companies in all EEA member states.
