‘Please stop,’ Quinn tells arson attackers Executive at tycoon’s old company was targeted
A car was set on fire outside the home of Dara O’Reilly, chief financial officer at Quinn Industrial Holdings, in Butlersbridge, Co. Cavan, last Wednesday night.
Speaking to Joe Finnegan of the Northern Sound radio station, Mr Quinn said: ‘The people who are doing this and carrying out these criminal acts are not doing this in the best interests of my family.
‘Me and my family, we are totally against this type of activity. Regardless about how these people feel about what has happened, this is doing us no good whatsoever.
‘All I can do is condemn it in the strongest possible terms and pass on my regrets and my sadness to Dara and his wife and his children because this is ‘Sadness’: Seán Quinn very unfortunate – this shouldn’t happen outside any family home. Whatever happens in business should stay in business and you should never have to bring it home to your wife and kids. So all I can do is say whoever is doing this, please stop.’
Questioned on his angry comments at a meeting in Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan, in August where he stated that he had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by QIH management, including Dara O’Reilly, he said: ‘I stand over every word I said at the meeting in Ballyconnell; however, this matter and that meeting are totally separate.’
The former billionaire added that anyone who has any information about the attack or those behind it should pass the information on to gardaí.
Meanwhile, Mr Quinn said he is looking forward to having his family’s upcoming High Court case heard, which is due to start on January 7. His wife Patricia and her children have taken an action denying liability for a €2.3billion debt. The family is being pursued over alleged asset stripping by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, Anglo Irish Bank’s successor.
The 72-year-old added that QuinnBet, the gambling firm he is currently heading up, is ‘going well’. The former owner of the Quinn Group quit as a consultant with QIH in May 2016, when he and his son Seán Jr left by mutual consent. He said he would love the opportunity to rebuild the business in Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh, but that he is confident other things will develop if that doesn’t happen.
Asked if he has any interest in a political career, he said: ‘Politicians have disappointed me greatly over the last ten years – they took away my business, they destroyed our reputation, they stood over criminal activity in a bank and put me in jail.
‘Politics in Ireland is nasty and will continue to be nasty. As regards politicians, my belief in politics is very low.
‘They have destroyed dozens and hundreds of companies over the last years. They have stood over misbehaviour of the banks.
‘I am past being angry and I am in a position now that the truth should be told and I am happy for it to be told.’
‘Politics in Ireland is nasty’