Businessman Sean Quinn today said he is one of many victims of Ireland’s economic collapse and should not have believed the politicians and banks who promised the boom would last.
The man, who was once the richest in Ireland, spoke out at the close of a legal challenge by the former Anglo Irish bank to overturn his bankruptcy in Northern Ireland.
The bank, nationalised under the title the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) following its dramatic slide into crisis, is pursuing Mr Quinn for billions in the Republic and has argued that is where his business is based.
But his lawyers told the High Court in Belfast that, having seen Mr Quinn forced from his former company's longstanding office in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland, the bank was now claiming his base is his home in Co Cavan in the republic.
Mr Quinn branded the legal case as "stupid" and said: "If I am bankrupt, I'm bankrupt."
He blamed previous governments who he said "have made the mess" and said the collapse of the Republic's economy affected many people, adding "there was an awful lot of victims".
"People like me were foolish enough to get stuck in the height of it, and borrowed too much money, believed in banks and believed in institutions, believed the country was going to continue to expand," he said.
"And of course I was wrong and tens of thousands of other people was wrong, but maybe not to the same extent that I was."
He added: "I accept I made big mistakes. I certainly did. I shouldn't have put all my eggs in one basket.
"I shouldn't have bought so many shares or got so involved and I shouldn't have believed in the hype of the Anglo thing.
"I shouldn't have believed the brokers. I shouldn't have believed the Central Bank. I shouldn't have believed the regulator. I shouldn't have believed people and I take responsibility for that."
He voluntarily filed for bankruptcy in Belfast last month, claiming his business was based in Co Fermanagh, on the northern side of the Irish border.
The businessman's multibillion-euro empire collapsed over the last two years on the back of massive stock market gambles on the share price of the Anglo Irish bank.
The 65-year-old has recently been hit with two separate judgments of € 1.74 billion and €416 million by the Commercial Court in Dublin over loans from the lender.
The Belfast High Court judge Mr Justice Donal Deeny said he will rule on the bankruptcy issue in the New Year, but outside the court Mr Quinn branded the legal challenge as a nonsense.
"This thing is a bit of a joke, whether I go bankrupt. I have no money. I gave away the business to my family in 2002," he said.
"The bank is well aware of that. This is just a face-saving exercise for Anglo."
He said that apart from the government, Anglo was the biggest loss-maker in the Republic's history.
"They want to try to deflect the problem somewhere else and they feel that I am a prime candidate for that."
He said the challenges against him were part of a PR battle to re-direct public anger and create a "Hate Sean Quinn campaign".
He added that some appeared to be "falling for it" and he said of the bank: "And they are enjoying that. That is their modus operandi."
PA