Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 October 2018
119. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance when he expects the next payment from the insurance compensation fund in relation to the liquidation of a company (details supplied); if payments will be made at the end of October 2018 as expected; if there is a delay to provide the reasons for that delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44053/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraSetanta 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 the payment of 100% of the compensation due to Setanta third party personal injury motor insurance claimants including the additional 35% to those who have settled their claims and have already received compensation of 65% of their claim.
The Act also 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.
Currently, no date has yet been fixed for the presentation of next tranche of payments to the High Court. However, I am informed by the State Claims Agency that much of the preparatory work has been completed, and while it was originally hoped that a court date could be arranged for the end of October, at this stage it may slip into the first half of November.
The reason for this slight delay is that as this is the first time that the Agency will carry out the assessment and verification, prepare the application, and issue the payments to individual claimants, it is taking extra care to ensure that the entire process works as intended. As you will appreciate with 1,500 separate payments, there is a considerable amount of detailed work attached to this process, so it is important to get it right. 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 the payments described as quickly as possible.
