TRIBUTES TO FOUNDER OF QUINLAN’S SEAFOOD

THE passing of Michael Quinlan from Waterville was met with deep sadness this week in his native south Kerry, a place he loved and in which he was well known.

The founder of Quinlan’s Seafood (Kerryfish) back in the early 1960s, Michael hailed from a generation for whom hard work and business acumen were two sides of the same coin.

Michael initially started working with ‘Rainbow Fish’ in Cahersiveen, and in 1963 he established his own business plan. By the 1970s and 1980s, Michael enjoyed the sight of cargo ships coming into Renard Point, where he would export mackerel and herring to places such as Japan and Nigeria.

Michael loved south Kerry and is known for having given many fishermen a helping hand starting out in what were difficult times economically.

Michael’s sons – Fintan, Ronan and Liam – carry on the Quinlan brand so synonymous with fresh, locally sourced seafood. Michael took huge pride in watching ‘Quinlan’s Kerry Fish’ expand over the years.

“He was very proud of his

Waterville roots, and he was exporting to countries at a time when it wasn’t really heard of. He was also employing a couple of hundred people at the time in the local factory,” Fintan told The Kerryman.

“He just loved it, and he was coming to work as recently as last December. He would be down to us every morning and, if he didn’t, I would get a phone call a couple of times a day enquiring what we were doing; the business was such a part of him,” Fintan added.

In later years, Michael enjoyed – watching from his home with his binoculars – the different fishing boats as they entered the harbour.

“He had a fierce interest in it, and it was his life, basically. He was very mechanically minded, and he loved problem solving. If a machine broke down, he would normally have it fixed by the time the engineers would come. Along with his friend, Patrick McCrohan, they loved engineering works. My father kept every nut and bolt, saying: ‘we’ll have use for that someday’. He was usually right, too.

“He was a very humble man,” Fintan said.

Photo by Michelle Cooper Galvin Michael Quinlan (second from left) with Peter, Liam and Ronan Quinlan at the opening of the new Quinlan’s Fresh Seafood and Fish and Chips premises at The Square, Killorglin.