Quinn workers set to vacate Navan offices by the end of June

The 100 workers at Quinn Insurance in Navan have just weeks left at their state-of-the-art Johnstown location before they are moved to Cavan and Blanchardstown. The Meath Chronicle understands that employees have been told that 24th June is their last day in Navan. Employees will move en bloc after that date but no-one as yet has moved. "We're all ticking along until then, it's supposed to be the end of June," said one Navan-based employee. "We've not had much contact recently with (administrators) Grant Thornton but we're all here and no-one's gone anywhere yet." The IDA is understood to be looking for a client for the building, and although it had been rumoured in councillors' circles last week that there was a firm "clearly favoured" to move in, no word has been forthcoming as yet from the IDA. Of the 100 jobs leaving on 24th June, the 50-plus claims department will go to Blanchardstown, while the 35 in finance will go to Cavan. The remaining 10-odd in IT will be split between the two locations, leaving the building at Johnstown completely empty. Council sources say that the possibility of Meath County Council itself moving into the building is a "total non-runner" when the council's different needs are considered and the fact that there might be private industry interested in using the building. Cllr Joe Reilly described the job losses to the area as a "huge blow" and criticised the administratrors for not choosing Navan as the Quinn Insurance headquarters. "Personally, I'm very disappointed that the administrator hasn't seen the Navan facility, which is a state-of-the-art builiding, which would be promoted by the enterprise section of Meath County Council and which is on a prime site, as a centre that is a multinational standard building. "The IDA announced two months ago that they have no more empty space and that they were not building new space, and at the same time, there it is right next to the IDA park and totally empty," said Cllr Reilly. "While I am glad that the employees all retain their jobs, the loss to Navan is a big, big blow; it's huge. We can't afford to lose those workers as we thrive on their presence here and it's a great shame that Cavan and Blanchardstown will now benefit from employees that should have been kept in Navan," he added. Cllr Shane Cassells said there is no point in putting the county council in the building, as had been suggested some time ago. "There had been some talk of it but it's hard to see how it is a runner, financially," he said. "The council would probably have to get rid of a lot of land before that's possible and when you consider what those parcels of land were probably bought for, it would be impractical to sell them now. There's parcels in Navan, Trim, Ashbourne, Kells, Duleek, et cetera, that all have dropped in value. "What we really need to do is attract private business. That should be our sole focus now, not whether or not a public authority should go in there," he declared. "There's little point putting Meath County Council in there as it would just be filling the building for the sake of it and not real job creation. We need to attract a top-class, major employer - a multinational - to that facility, something which we've failed to attract in the last 10 years," he said. Local property sources are saying €6.5m is the average valuation of the 70,000 sq ft facility. The Quinn Group reported an operating loss of €888m for 2009 last week, mainly due to losses at Quinn Insurance, compared to profits of €239m in 2008. Quinn Insurance, which is currently under administration, incurred operating losses of €644m in 2009. Turnover at Quinn Group - including its insurance operations - amounted to €1.6bn in 2009, down from €2.2bn the previous year. Meanwhile, Cllr Tommy Reilly said he has written to Barry O'Leary, chief executive of the IDA, asking him to take a personal interest in the IDA taking control of the building so that it does not fall into disrepair after the doors close for the last time. The IDA said this week they could not comment on the matter due to the highly confidential nature of ongoing discussions with companies.