Quinn: Grit and Greed on the Border

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A NEW book written by Seán Quinn has been described as “a highly selective self-serving exercise in revising history” by his former parish priest.

Fade into the shadows? Hard to foresee. A sequel seems a lot more likely. Forbes resigns as director of piano competition He tries to create a new narrative and this autobiography was an ideal opportunity to become his own spin doctor,” said Fr O’Reilly.Seán Quinn junior, who told the crowd that it was “a very emotional night for my father”, thanked those who had supported him for the past 15 years. He himself found the book difficult to read, he said, adding that the biggest disappointment for him over recent turbulent years was “being double-crossed by people you considered friends”. Quinn ended up owing Anglo, which had gone bust and was nationalised, almost €3bn, eventually resulting in the bank seizing control of his business empire in 2011.

He is now gambling that his new book will tell his story and not remind the public of how they ended up paying his debts. The inside story of Ireland's bankrupt billionaire, Sean Quinn, who went from rags to riches before gambling it all on Anglo-Irish Bank shares and becoming the world's biggest personal loser of the economic collapse of 2008. This is the remarkable story of the man everyone said was too big to fail. Quinn wrote to Vatican officials afterwards to express his displeasure. According to one local, this, “of all the stupid moves he made”, was one of the worst. Further expansion followed when Quinn-Direct insurance was set up which recorded colossal profits of €232m in 2005.

Seán Quinn pictured at the launch of his book at the Slieve Russell Hotel, Co Cavan. Photograph: Andrew Paton While Seán Quinn publicly apologised to the Sunday Independent journalist Maeve Sheehan for his treatment of her during an interview in advance of his book launch, during Thursday night’s event his solicitor Mr McGettigan accused Ms Sheehan of trying to make the book about herself. He made the remark after a swipe at journalists in general. Recalling one of the many local legends about Quinn, he told a story of early days when Quinn was struggling to agree a price with a man selling a considerable amount of machinery. ‘True colours’ He believed the businessman had not received fair play and said he was a humble man and it was wrong to suggest greed brought him down. “I remember him baling hay with a tractor. Seán Quinn was never greedy. He is a scapegoat,” said Mr Maguire.

It’s somewhat ironic Sean Quinn, who wagered his business empire against a basket case bank and lost everything, has launched an online bookies. Those present seemed keen to share their admiration for the man who was once Ireland’s richest citizen - until he lost his business after multi-billion euro losses on a gamble on contracts for difference - a type of investment on shares - in the former Anglo Irish Bank. He also spoke of “a mafia style group with its own ‘godfather’ operating in our region for some time behind the scenes”. But between 2007 and 2013, Quinn’s companies went from being a great success to a complete disaster. The Quinn Group became one of Ireland’s biggest ever business failures. Seán Quinn became Ireland’s biggest ever bankruptcy, and in the winter of 2012–2013 he ended up in jail for nine weeks, having been found in contempt of court.Fr Oliver O’Reilly said the former billionaire emerges from the self-penned publication as “angry.” The book is dense, a large majority of the book is made up of behind-the -scenes details including documents from the period where Quinn’s empire began to collapse, it does not make easy reading for those who are not well versed in business jargon and the inclusion of accounts and a solicitors’ letters makes for a clunky read. The priest, who has read Quinn’s new book In My Own Words, claimed its contents are “highly selective”.