By Cianna McNally

MONAGHAN County Council is to write to An Taoiseach Brian Cowen in a bid to get him to intervene to save jobs at Quinn Insurance.

A proposal to correspond with the Taoiseach was made by Mayor of Co Monaghan Heather Humphreys who described the 900 job losses which were announced on Friday, 30 April, as a “very serious issue” which would have a “huge impact” on the local area. Mayor Humphreys’ proposal was seconded by Sinn Fèin councillor Matt Carthy. The Mayor also proposed that a letter would be sent to the financial regulator requesting that the remaining viable markets would be opened up to Quinn Insurance in an attempt to save as many jobs as possible. Correspondence had previously been sent to the Taoiseach on the issue after the April monthly meeting of Monaghan County Council but the only response received by the council was an acknowledgement of the letter.

Meanwhile, Cavan/Monaghan Fianna Fáil TD Margaret Conlon has described the 900 job losses as “extremely regrettable.” In a statement to monaghanlife.ie, Deputy Conlon offered her sincere sympathy to all those affected by the redundancies and said her thoughts were with them and their families. “Along with my Oireachtas colleagues, I have been working on behalf of the Quinn employees over the past number of weeks and we will continue to represent their needs at Government level.” 

Deputy Conlon also stated that dedicated information centres staffed by Government support agencies will be established on site in Cavan, Navan and Blanchardstown to help those affected seek the available assistance. “The possibility of drawing down European funding under the cross border Interreg Programme will also be fully investigated,” concluded Deputy Conlon.