Brave Kevin: I’ll go back to my work
QIH director to return despite ongoing threats Gardai vow to find ‘paymaster’ behind violence
HE was savagely beaten and left for dead, but Quinn director Kevin Lunney will defy his brutal attackers and return to work within weeks.
Despite being kidnapped, tortured, doused with bleach and dumped on a road side, the father-of-six will return to his position at the company.
A spokesman for Quinn Industrial Holdings yesterday confirmed to the Irish Sunday Mirror Mr Lunney will be going back to work and added all the directors remain on high alert following recent death threats.
He said: “Kevin’s recovery is ongoing and he is expected to make a gradual return to work over the coming weeks.
“The company believes the establishment of a joint investigative team is a critical step and is satisfied the necessary resources and resolve are now in place for an effective investigation.”
The news comes as three people arrested on Thursday in connection with the attack on Mr Lunney were yesterday released without charge.
A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr Lunney was pulled from his jeep near his Co Fermanagh home and driven across the border in Co Cavan on September 17.
There he was forced into a horsebox in a country yard and tortured on the orders of a “paymaster”.
He was repeatedly cut and slashed across the face and body with a Stanley knife, doused in bleach and beaten with a wooden post.
The letters QIH were carved into his chest during the horrific attack which lasted two-and-a-half hours.
TERROR
His ordeal is just the latest of more than 70 incidents recorded over the past four years, from graffiti to attacks on cars and company equipment in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan and Derrylin, Co Fermanagh.
Even after the attack, the campaign of threats and intimidation which have brought fear to inhabitants of the border towns continued.
Just a few weeks ago, on October 28, a masked man read out a statement threatening the five QIH directors.
Sinn Fein Justice Spokesman Martin Kenny said all threats must be taken seriously by gardai.
Speaking to the Irish Sunday Mirror, he added: “The issue of Garda resources is, of course, relevant but there is also the issue of gardai taking smaller threats seriously and acting upon them in time.
“If local gardai are not able to deal with local situations, or are afraid to deal with threats and violence in their area, then there should be police brought in from outside the locality.
“Talk of ‘the dogs in the street’ knowing who is responsible is not much good.
“Those dogs won’t stand up in court, but if people are saying perpetrators are known to them, they should be questioned and asked for information.
“That kind of low-level intimidation – graffiti, small acts of vandalism and verbal threats – should be treated with zero tolerance.”
He added: “There are many causes of crime and many motivations for individual criminal acts. The police service cannot solve many of those problems or remove motivation, but when there is the threat of crime or when small misdemeanours are committed to send a message that worse might follow, then the job of gardai is to protect citizens.” The investigation into Mr Lunney’s ordeal took an unexpected twist when chief suspect Cyril “Dublin Jimmy” Mcguinness, 54, dropped dead during a police raid at a house in Derbyshire in the UK. Despite this, it has been claimed bosses at QIH are still at risk. This week company director John Mccartin said resolve is still needed to find the
“paymaster” who financed Mcguinness and his gang of thugs.
He told Miriam O’callaghan on RTE: “There is still a lot of risk and there are indications this campaign is not over.
“None of us could imagine the level to which they would stoop. The lack of humanity that they have.”
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris visited the Quinn plant in Co Cavan to discuss the investigation and said gardai were committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice.
On Thursday the Garda’s biggest staff body contacted Taoiseach Leo Varadkar asking he take action over claims by Minister Michael D’arcy that the force had “let down” Quinn executives over the campaign of violence against them.
The Garda Representative Association described Mr D’arcy’s comments as “baseless claims” and called for an apology for “blaming frontline gardai over the policing response to the victimisation” of Quinn directors.
A Garda spokeswoman said Commissioner Harris is taking Mr Lunney’s incident seriously and the appropriate security measures had been implemented.
She added: “These concerns were taken seriously by the then Commissioner and progress reports requested from relevant senior officers.
“At that stage there was already a joint approach to these incidents between An Garda Siochana and the PSNI.
“This involved close co-operation on ongoing investigations as well as the involvement of Garda national units in
areas such as economic crime and national support services.”
She added gardai are satisfied with the level of policing in the area and that 190 officers were allocated since 2017, with an armed unit based in Cavan.
Former billionaire Sean Quinn has denied any involvement in the abduction and subsequent torture of Mr Lunney.
The pair had worked together while Mr Quinn was trying to regain control of his empire which collapsed in 2012 after he became heavily involved in investments in Anglo
Irish Bank. He told Channel 4 News: “I’d have no hand, act or part or no knowledge or no gain; I’d have no benefit of doing anything to Kevin Lunney. Kevin Lunney and I were good friends for years.”
He went on to say people in the community were outraged at how he had been treated by the new executives.
Mr Quinn added: “The locals are very angry about what they’ve done to me, throwing me out the gate, giving me nothing, sacking me. They’re very, very angry.”
There are indications that this campaign [of violence] is not over
JOHN MCCARTIN QIH COMPANY DIRECTOR