Quinn family must return to head of company rally hears

The Quinn family are the only ones capable of reviving the Quinn Group's fortunes, was the message the crowd gathered at Ballyconnell heard this afternoon. The crowd, estimated by gardai at over 5,000, filled the border town's main street, indicating that the Quinn family retain huge loyal support from the Cavan-Fermanagh community. It proved an emotional experience as Sean Snr and his wife Patricia were moved to tears. Despite the poor weather, the numbers were up on the attendance at the first rally at the end of July, again organised by Concerned Irish Citizens group, in Ballyconnell, which was estimated at over 4,000. The crowd heard a number of Sean Quinn's family bullishly defend their record and repeatedly slam the behaviour of the national media. They questioned the independence of the media and dismissed them as puppets of banks and the government, and focussed on what they believe is an unfair portrayal of Karen Woods, Sean Quinn Jnr's wife. The speakers addressed the throng of supporters from a platform with a banner saying 'All we want is natural justice'. Peter Quinn Senior, brother of Sean Quinn Snr, was the main speaker, and insisted that the Quinn family must be reinstated to the helm of the Quinn Company if the company is to prosper once again. "The Quinn Group could and should have been the main stimulmant of the economic recovery of this area," said Peter Quinn. He claimed that it is currently being "run into the ground". Peter Quinn continued: "And there will be no thousands of new jobs under Anglo and their allies; there will be far less secure and well paid employment in this area. There will be no new projects under the current regime because they simply won't be capable of generating the money to start a new project. "Before the Quinn Group always paid its taxes, never failed to meet a scheduled payment with its bankers, and operated completely legally. It was profitable, now its profitability depends on writing down the assets so that the depreciation charge will be lower." Sean Quinn Snr did not speak at the rally but his daughters Ciara and Colette both spoke. Other speakers included Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte, who had come in for much criticism from the national media after appearing at the first rally, former Fermanagh and Cavan footballer Rory Gallagher, and Padraig Donohoe of SuperValu in Ballyconnell, who was one of the principal organisers of the rally. There was no direct mention by any of the speakers of Sean Quinn Jnr or his cousin Peter Darragh Quinn who is evading gardai arrest for contempt of court by remaining in his home county of Fermanagh. Speaking to The Anglo-Celt after the rally Colette Quinn said that the next notable date for their ongoing legal battle would be November 2 when both they and the former Anglo Irish bank, now operating as IBRC, would provide discovery of documents.