Liberty Insurance has announced a loss of 270 jobs in Ireland.

The company has today announced they will close their UK operations, which is serviced from Ireland, on both sides of the border, with locations in Fermanagh, Cavan and Dublin.

The Boston based group bought out Quinn Insurance four years ago.

In a statement released today the company said “it has conducted a strategic review of its business and will as a result withdraw from the personal motor insurance market in Great Britain (GB) and make significant changes to its operations in Ireland.”

“Employees were addressed at briefings in Cavan, Dublin and Enniskillen today. It is anticipated the redundancies will take effect over the next 18 months. While the final numbers are uncertain until the conclusion of the process, it is expected that there could be approximately 135 redundancies in Dublin, 115 in Cavan and 20 in Enniskillen.”

Tom McIlduff, Chief Executive, Liberty Insurance, said the company has “achieved a lot in our first few years in Ireland" but has been "loss making with an uncompetitive cost base". 

"Withdrawing from the Great Britain market, focusing on Ireland and streamlining our operating model will enable us to strengthen our long term competitive position in Ireland in order to service our customers and brokers better.”

The company will now start to seek 270 voluntary redundancies.