I don’t want businesses back - Quinn

Celt Reporter

Ballyconnell businessman Sean Quinn has said he no longer wants to take back control of the businesses he once owned following the recent attack on Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) executive Kevin Lunney.
“A month ago I still had ambitions to go back into those offices and sort out the Quinn Group. Not today,” Mr Quinn said in an interview with Channel 4 News last week.
Asked why he has changed his position, he simply replied: “Kevin Lunney.”
“People can say whatever they want about me but I don’t want to be seen as being the beneficiary of abuse or of criminal activity,” Mr Quinn said sternly.
“I’d have no hand, act or part or no knowledge or no gain; I’d have no benefit of doing anything to Kevin Lunney. Kevin Lunney and I were good friends for years.”
Father of six Mr Lunney is continuing his recovery from injuries sustained after he was abducted from outside his home, taken across the border and tortured, before being dumped by the side of the road near Cornafean on the evening of September 17 last.
The incident left Mr Lunney with what was described as “life-changing injuries”.
There have been around 70 reported incidents throughout a five-year campaign of violence and intimidation directed at QIH properties and senior management personnel.

This week reports stated that five executives at QIH were told there are credible threats to their lives, after being served with a Garda Information Message - known as a GIM form. These notices are only issued to individuals against whom a credible or serious threat of violence has been made.

Ó Caoláin challenges Facebook
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin Dáil Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has challenged social media giant Facebook on its failure to respond swiftly to repeated requests by QIH personnel to remove offensive posts, relenting only after Mr Lunney was abducted.
He made the comments at the latest Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality public hearing on Online Harassment and Harmful Communications.
In the course of a comprehensive address of the subject of the hearings Deputy Ó Caoláin, who chairs the committee, directed specific questions to Dualta Ó Broin, head of public policy at Facebook.
Referring to the post, he said: “I understand that Facebook removed it the day after Kevin Lunney was kidnapped and attacked... It was action after the event. It was much too late!
“The material was hugely offensive. It was intended to harm the good name and reputation of the people involved and, as a Deputy representing the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, I believe it fed into a view that in some way those people, the named parties, and the businesses they were involved in, were a legitimate target for the worst excesses of what I can only describe as the most ill-informed people on this island. How does Facebook respond to the example I have cited? I would have raised it with Facebook even if the attack had not taken place because the pages should have been removed. The vile content and its intent and purpose is an affront to any and every one of us.”
Responding Mr Ó Broin stated that she was shocked by the events in Cavan and extended her sympathies to Mr Lunney. “We have been working with the Quinn Industrial Holdings team for a number of years and it has made a number of reports to us about content. We have removed a significant number of posts,” she said.
In reference to one particular post, Ms Ó Broin added that, when it was initially reported, it was not deemed to be in violation of Facebook’s community standards.
“It was then brought back to our attention through the media on 20 September. At that point, it was put into an authenticity check. It was then reviewed and found to be violating our community standards. The post and the page on which it appeared have been removed from the platform,” she said.