Gardaí contact executives after radio interview comments by Seán Quinn

Executives who previously worked for former billionaire businessman Seán Quinn have been interviewed as part of Garda inquiries into comments he made in a radio interview last week.

The Irish Times understands Garda members in Cavan-Monaghan contacted the executives and interviewed them on Monday. Witness statements were taken from them. The recording of the interview, on Newstalk, last week was also being studied by detectives to determine if it breached the law around threatening or inciteful behaviour.

Garda sources confirmed the interviews took place, though efforts to secure a comment from the men named by Mr Quinn – Liam McCaffrey and John McCartin – were not successful. Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, also declined to make any substantive comment when asked about the inquiries being made into Mr Quinn’s interview.

“An Garda Síochána is not in a position to either confirm or deny any contact by any individual as outlined in your enquiry at this time,” it said in reply to queries.

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During the Newstalk interview, Mr Quinn spoke of the 2019 attack on Kevin Lunney, the executive who previously worked for him in the Quinn group of businesses before Mr Quinn lost control of if.

Mr Lunney and his fellow former Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) colleagues, Mr McCaffrey and Mr McCartin, are currently senior executives in Mannok Holdings. It is in effect some of the former Quinn businesses under a new name and with new owners.

A campaign of intimidation and violence was directed for years in the Fermanagh-Cavan area against the former Quinn executives who remained running parts of the Quinn empire after Mr Quinn lost control of it in the post-Celtic Tiger economic crash. That campaign culminated in the abduction of Mr Lunney close to his home in Derrylin, south Fermanagh, in 2019. He was tortured before being released, with very serious injuries, but survived.

While a number of men were later convicted for their roles in the abduction, the Mannok executives have always believed a more senior figure, dubbed “the paymaster”, had effectively orchestrated or funded the campaign of intimidation and violence.

[ Seán Quinn on Prime Time: aptly for someone who made his money in concrete, he’s expert at keeping a stony facade ]

Speaking to Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder programme last week, Mr Quinn accepted it had often been implied he was the so-called “paymaster”, but strongly denied it. He said, “I haven’t the price of a bag of spuds,” adding Mr Lunney “knows well that I had not hand, act nor part” in his abduction.

Mr Quinn then went on to make the comments now being examined by the Garda, who were already investigating the campaign of violence against the local business executives now running some of the former Quinn companies. Specifically, Mr Quinn said he would have preferred to see Mr McCaffrey and Mr McCartin targeted, and not Mr Lunney.

While Newstalk host Kieran Cuddihy described the remarks as “incendiary”, Mr Quinn heavily qualified them and also condemned all forms of violence numerous times during the interview.

Mr Quinn claimed the Mannok executives were “unpopular” in the Fermanagh area, adding Mr Lunney was given much of “the dirty work” – including “suing neighbours” – by his colleagues Mr McCaffrey and Mr McCartin. He alleged Mr Lunney was a “servant” of his fellow Mannok executives and “got the blame for a lot of it”. However, Mr Quinn added it was “disgraceful what happened” to Mr Lunney.

“Certainly, if Seán Quinn wanted somebody to be kidnapped in Derrylin, and it’s something that would never, ever, ever cross my mind or anybody belonging to me. The Quinns are not that type of people. But if we did feel that something should be ... somebody should be beaten up or whatever it might be, it certainly wouldn’t be Kevin Lunney.”

Mr Cuddihy then asked: “Who would it be?”

Mr Quinn replied: “Well, it’d be people at a higher level than Kevin Lunney. If you were asking me would I rather see John McCartin or Liam McCaffrey beaten up than Kevin Lunney, the answer is ‘yes’.” He then went on to say, “I wouldn’t be in favour of anybody being beaten up,” adding what had happened already were “barbaric acts”.

He said the point he was making was that Mr Lunney had been “made a scapegoat” and what had occurred – in relation to Mr Quinn’s businesses being broken up and taken over – was not a plan Mr Lunney had created. Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Quinn said any crime that was committed in the region must be investigated and the people brought to justice. The only way for peace to be brought to an area was that justice be served in all parts of that community, he said. He further stated he had previously made remarks telling people “there should be no violence”.

Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the former billionaire’s comments were “deplorable”.

“People are entitled to feel safe and then you have throwaway comments like that, particularly given what has happened in that county, what has happened to people in the past number of years. He shouldn’t have said that and he should certainly be apologising if not taking those comments back.”