The High Court has made an order formally winding up Quinn Insurance DAC.
Mr Justice Conor Dignam made the order and appointed chartered accountant and insolvency expert, Damien Harper as liquidator to the company which was founded by Derrylin native Sean Quinn. Quinn Insurance was placed into administration 13 years ago by the Government at a cost of €1 billion to the State.
The court heard that the company's sole creditor was the Insurance Compensation Fund - the State fund used to compensate policy holders when an insurance company goes into liquidation.
The Government took the decision to place the insurer into administration following the collapse of Sean Quinn's business empire following the economic recession and banking crisis in 2008.
The application to appoint Mr Harper was made on behalf of the company's joint administrators Michael McAteer and Paul McCann of Grant Thornton.
Counsel for the company Garvan Corkery, told the court, that the application was being made as all outstanding business of the administration had been completed.
He pointed out that the company was clearly insolvent, has no assets, and there was no reality that its debt to the ICF could be met.
The company had been run by the administrators and was under the supervision of four different Presidents of the High Court since 2010.
Counsel said the insurance business's undertaking had been sold to Liberty Insurance in 2011.
All of its other assets, subsidiaries and undertakings have also been dealt with and any value realised, counsel added.
The last outstanding significant piece of business involving Quinn Insurance, Counsel said, was its High Court action, where it alleged negligence, brought against the firm's auditors PwC, but that matter was settled last year.
The were no objections to the application, and after being satisfied that all relevant parties had been put on notice of the application, Mr Justice Dignam made the order to wind up Quinn Insurance.
