Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1985

Guarantee by Minister of certain payments by The Insurance Corporation of Ireland, public limited company.

14.—(1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, guarantee, in such form and manner and on such terms and conditions as the Minister may sanction, the payment by the Insurance Corporation of any moneys (including moneys in a currency other than the currency of the State) due and payable by it under any insurance policy signed and issued on or before the 15th day of March, 1985 by the Institute of London Underwriters on behalf of the Insurance Corporation or on behalf of the Insurance Corporation and other members of that institute or of any moneys (including moneys in a currency other than the currency of the State) due and payable by the Insurance Corporation to that institute on or before the 15th day of March, 1985.

(2) The Minister shall not so exercise the powers conferred on him by this section that the amount, or the aggregate amount, of moneys which he may at any one time be liable to pay on foot of any guarantee or guarantees under this section for the time being in force, together with the amount of moneys (if any) which he has previously paid on foot of any guarantee under this section and which has not been repaid by the Insurance Corporation, exceeds £20,000,000.

(3) The Minister shall, as soon as may be after the expiration of every financial year of the Insurance Corporation, lay before each House of the Oireachtas a statement setting out with respect to each guarantee under this section given during that year or given at any time before, and in force at, the commencement of that year—

(a) in case any payment has been made by him under the guarantee before the end of that year, the amount of the payment and the amount (if any) repaid to him on foot of the payment,

(b) the total amount of moneys paid by him under the guarantee and not repaid to him.

(4) Moneys paid by the Minister under a guarantee under this section shall be repaid to him (with interest thereon at such rate or rates as he appoints with the consent of the Minister for Finance) by the Insurance Corporation within two years from the date of the advance of the moneys out of the Central Fund.

(5) Where the whole or any part of the moneys required by subsection (4) of this section to be repaid to the Minister has not been paid in accordance with that subsection, the amount so remaining outstanding shall be repaid to the Central Fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(6) Notwithstanding the provision of moneys under subsection (5) of this section to repay any amount to the Central Fund, the Insurance Corporation shall remain liable to the Minister in respect of that amount, and that amount, with interest thereon at such rate or rates as the Minister appoints, shall be repaid to him by the Insurance Corporation at such times and in such instalments as he appoints and, in default of repayment as aforesaid and without prejudice to any other method of recovery, shall be recoverable by the Minister from the Insurance Corporation as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(7) Moneys paid by the Insurance Corporation under subsection (4) or (6) of this section shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance thinks fit.

(8) For the purposes of calculating the amount of the moneys guaranteed by the Minister under this section by reference to the limit on moneys in subsection (2) of this section, the equivalent in the currency of the State shall be calculated at the exchange rate prevailing at the time of the giving of the guarantee.

(9) In this section “the Insurance Corporation” means The Insurance Corporation of Ireland, public limited company.