Sean Quinn says his family are not liable for the companies €2.8bn debt
It’s Anglo, and not us, that owes billions to the State he said
SEÁN QUINN: “WAS I WRONG? WAS I FOOLISH? YES, I ACCEPT THAT.” HE SAID.
IT WAS AN “ABSOLUTE SCANDAL” THAT A LEVY HAD TO BE ADDED TO NON-LIFE ASSURANCE POLICIES IN ORDER TO FUND THE WINDING DOWN OF THAT COMPANY, HE SAID, IMPLYING THE COMPANY’S CASH RESERVES WOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH TO MEET ANY CLAIMS AGAINST IT.
Bankrupt Northern Ireland businessman Seán Quinn yesterday reiterated his view that his family does not owe €2.8 billion to Irish Bank Resolution Corporation for debts owed to Anglo Irish Bank, largely via his family secretly acquiring a 29 per cent stake in the bank when it was a public company.
He said the liability now rests with Quinn Group, the diversified company that he controlled until a share receiver was appointed by the State-owned bank last year. Since then, Mr Quinn has challenged the legality of this action, has been declared bankrupt and found in contempt of court for deliberately moving Quinn Group assets overseas out of the reach of IBRC.
In an interview broadcast last night on Tonight with Vincent Browne on TV3, Mr Quinn said all except €445 million of the massive debt is owed by Quinn Group, a company that he no longer controls. He aired this view last Sunday in a radio interview with RTÉ.
He also said he had not “reneged” on a commitment to repay the money in full. “I have reneged on no promise, never did, never would,” he said.
“Of the €2.8 billion, €2.34 billion is being contested. We believe there’s €445 million of legal money owed [by the family].”
Mr Quinn said he informed Anglo on many occasions that he would repay the money in full. But this was based on his retaining control of the Quinn Group, which is involved in manufacturing, property and leisure, and being able to pay the banks from the company’s profits.
“We didn’t want . . . to feel that it would be said that we owed the Irish taxpayer any money,” he said. “We had no problem paying all the money plus interest. But now we don’t own any business. They [IBRC] have all the business. It’s them that owes the €2.8 billion, not the family or me that owes €2.8 billion. The €2.8 billion was borrowed by Quinn Group. It’s not my fault if they are going to take the company off me.”
Mr Quinn acknowledged that his actions in relation to Anglo were reckless.
“In hindsight, was I reckless? Was I wrong? Was I foolish? Yes, I accept that.”
Mr Quinn was also asked if he might consider a career in politics and run for the Dáil, especially after the support he received last week at a rally in Cavan and from senior members of the GAA community.
“I’ll run if you run [Vincent],” he replied. When Mr Browne said he had no intention of running for public office, Mr Quinn said: “Well then, I’m not going to run either. No, certainly not.”
Ireland in the grip of a diabetes epidemic
‘study predicts 30% increase in 10 years time’
Nearly one-in-10 people in Ireland aged over 45 years could have diabetes by 2020, according to new research.
The study, published by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH), predicts that by 2020 the number of over-45s with both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes is expected to rise to more than 175,000 people, or 9.1% of the population in that age bracket.
The research also shows that 3.2% of over 18s in the 26 counties had diabetes in the previous 12 months that had been diagnosed by a doctor. This included 6.2% of adults aged over 45.
By 2020, according to the study, the rate of clinically-diagnosed diabetes for over 18s is expected to rise to 3.8%, or 136,000 people. This represents a 28% increase in diagnosed diabetes in 10 years, according to the IPH.
Currently, it is estimated that 8.9% of adults over 45 have either diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes – among this age group, 30% of all diabetes is undiagnosed. Undiagnosed diabetes is more common among men than women.
By 2020, the number of over 45s with diabetes, both undiagnosed and diagnosed, will rise to more than 145,000, according to the IPH. This represents a 30% increase in 10 years.
According to Lorraine Fahy of the IPH, the fact that large numbers of adults are living with diabetes and that this number is expected to increase has significant implications for the people concerned, their families and the health and social care system.
According to Dr Anna Clarke of Diabetes Ireland increases in type 2 diabetes are being fed by rising obesity and inactivity levels, whereas Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune condition that currently is not preventable.
The research was carried out by the IPH with the HRB Centre for Diet and Health Research at UCC and the Centre of Excellence for Public Health Northern Ireland.
Prof Ivan Perry from the HRB Centre, said Ireland was not immune from the current global epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
He said we need to change both out food environment and physical environment in ways that will support healthy choices through public ;policy.
“In this context, the current Government proposals for increased taxation on sugar-sweetened soft drinks is critical.”
Diabetes a real story?
‘When he couldn’t say his own name I phoned for an ambulance’
When I met Eoin first in 2006, I knew he was diabetic.
However, I didn’t really know what that meant. I was familiar with sugar highs and lows, and I knew with diabetes those highs and lows were much more severe and potentially fatal. I didn’t realise though, how somebody’s entire life — and the lives of those who love them — could be so affected by the condition even when they were young, strong and vital.
Eoin was 24 then, and as normal as you can imagine. On the outside, I saw a guy with a busy social life who drank alcohol, ate what he liked and worked in a demanding job as an electrician.
He was slender and athletic, and if you met him in a pub you’d never know he was any different to the other guys there — unless perhaps, you noticed he drank Diet Coke as a mixer and avoided Red Bull and Jagerbombs at all costs.
As we grew closer, I learned more about how he’d developed type one diabetes after a virus when he was 14.
He was so ill he dropped to 7st even though he was pushing 6ft. He was admitted to hospital for tests and his family feared the worst, so when they were told he had the very treatable diabetes, they were relieved. However, they soon realised the gravity of his condition.
DANGEROUS
Type one diabetes means that the pancreas doesn’t produce the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar.
This can lead to severe highs, and those with constantly high blood sugar can suffer from organ failure, and can lose limbs and eyesight.
Type one diabetics must inject themselves with insulin to lower blood sugar to a normal level. A high is dangerous in the long term, but if too much insulin is injected their blood sugar can become dangerously low and result in a coma or even death. For this reason, diabetics must monitor their blood sugar every time they eat and inject the correct amount.
Eoin’s lifestyle changed overnight. He was released from hospital with a strict nutrition plan and insulin to be injected into his abdomen four times daily.
Suddenly he had to change his lifestyle drastically.
Gone was the junk food teenage boys devour, as well as sugary drinks and regular takeaways and it was in with healthy, low-glycaemic index foods that burned slowly and didn’t spike his blood sugar.
He gained weight back and no longer looked ill but it affected him; adolescence can be hard enough as it is. Although he’d been a diabetic for a decade when we met, Eoin wasn’t exactly well-behaved.
He drank as much as I did and ate irregularly. However he was functioning thanks perhaps to his youth and fitness.
He had bad habits, but seemed able to manage himself, and there were never any scary incidents as long as he had a bottle of high-sugar Lucozade to hand in case of a low. I could tell when he was high or low — when high he’d be sweaty, have sore joints and feel nauseous.
Because this wasn’t as dangerous in the moment, I’d remind him to take his injection and say no more.
However, lows always scared me, partly because I knew they could be fatal and partly because of how he acted when his blood sugar dipped.
The only way I can describe it is that he becomes like a drunk child — hyper, giddy and mischievous at first, and the lower it goes, the more out of it he becomes.
We moved in together in 2008, and it was only then I saw the full extent of his routine. The needles after every meal and before bed, the sweats, head and limb aches, and the weight loss.
His hands would get so sore he’d ask me to massage them, and the common cold would affect him far more than was normal.
In summer 2010, I really began to worry. Because of the heat and the amount of physical labour his job required, he was burning off his food quicker than normal but taking the same amount of insulin.
Diabetics are supposed to test their blood every time they inject, but Eoin lazily didn’t and it showed.
By this stage he’d stopped drinking often, only going out boozing on special occasions, and he’d taken up golf. His body was taking longer to get over a night out than was normal, and he felt drinking wasn’t worth how he was feeling afterwards. Despite this lifestyle change (or perhaps because of it) he woke up low most mornings, and one day I awoke to find him staring at me with glazed eyes.
I panicked because I couldn’t get him to communicate or swallow Lucozade, and he seemed angry and scared. He was conscious but unresponsive until I forced the drink down his throat and he came back to me, unaware of what had happened. I had called 999, but cancelled the ambulance and we both went to work as normal.
When I broke down at my desk a few hours later, I realised how affected I was by his condition and reluctance to look after himself as well as he should.
Life went on, and he was fine 90pc of the time but still not as careful or watchful as I would have liked.
It all came to a head on a Sunday in February this year.
We’d been out celebrating his brother’s birthday, and I noticed Eoin wasn’t himself when he woke up. He’d forgotten to eat and inject before bed, essential for a diabetic after drinking.
I assumed he was high as a kite and told him to take a needle and go back to bed, thinking he was hungover.
He did so, but when 2pm rolled around and he was still out cold, I went in to check on him. I wasn’t prepared for what I found.
Eoin’s eyes were open but unfocused and he was trying to talk, but couldn’t make a sound. He didn’t appear to realise that I was in the room and was writhing on the bed trying to sit up, but he couldn’t.
I gave him some milk which he swallowed, but soon started vomiting everywhere, and the sheets were soaked with perspiration. When he couldn’t say his own name and seemed to be silently crying in pain, I phoned an ambulance.
The paramedics tested his blood and told me his blood sugar was through the roof at 33 (it should be between six and eight) and asked me if I felt comfortable administering insulin — they’re not allowed, which I didn’t know.
I gave him a big dose. In the ambulance he continued vomiting, and was grey and unresponsive although awake. I didn’t understand — if he’d been high, insulin was all he needed but he seemed worse. On arrival at the hospital he was whisked away while I waited, frantic.
An hour later, I was allowed see him and it was then the doctors told me that if we hadn’t been minutes from the hospital, he may have died. They believed that his blood had not been high at all, but very low, and the insulin I’d given him had put him into shock.
The measurement the paramedics had taken had been compromised by the vomit and milk on his hands and the reading hadn’t been accurate.
I have never felt such guilt in my life. In trying to help Eoin I’d almost killed him, and even though he was fine, I was devastated.
The doctors believed he had a wheat intolerance as well as diabetes, and the pizza and beer from the night before coupled with fatigue and the injection he took that morning had caused the dramatic drop in blood sugar, hence the extreme symptoms.
The needle I’d given him afterwards had tipped him over the edge, but a glucose drip saved him.
He was released a couple of days later under strict instructions to monitor his blood sugar and insulin intake regularly, while I was taught what to do should it happen again.
Since then, he’s been well. He’s given up alcohol now, and limits his wheat intake.
I still worry about him and if he’s honest he’ll tell you that he’s still not as well behaved as he should be, even after such a horrible scare.
It may he his body and life, but it’s mine, too. I do worry about his future.
He’s 30 this year and his job very much depends on having four limbs and good eyesight, all of which can be lost through diabetes.
While in one respect his diabetes is difficult and frightening, it’s also made us more grateful for one another and what we have together.
Nobody knows what the future holds, but he knows I’ll be by his side. Oh, and I’ve also learned never to attempt to inject him again. Once bitten and all that…goes with it.
Barristers owed fees from solicitors to take ’name & shame action’
Barristers who are owed legal fees by solicitors (sample pics above) are to consider a proposal to name and shame the culprits.
At its annual general meeting last Thursday, the Bar Council of Ireland discussed a proposal to maintain a debt collection and credit-rating service that would highlight and expose solicitors believed to be withholding fees.
The setting up of a debt collection agency to act on behalf of Bar Council members is under consideration by a committee which will bring proposals to the council after the holidays. A council spokeswoman said a motion on the issue was withdrawn and would be discussed in October.
Law Society director general Ken Murphy said the organisation would view as serious misconduct a solicitor recovering fees for a barrister and not passing them on. However “almost invariably” the reason for that was because solicitors themselves had not been paid.
“It is not the case that solicitors are hoarding fees paid by clients,” Mr Murphy said. “The sad reality . . . is clients are not paying because they can’t.”
Judge Devins makes apology for saying social welfare was a Polish charity
A District court judge Mary Devins (above) has apologised over remarks she made in court last Friday suggesting that social welfare was a Polish charity.
Judge Mary Devins yesterday issued a statement through the Courts Service to clarify a comment made in court in Castlebar last Friday.
The judge made the remark while hearing the case of a trainee plumber over a public order offence in which the man had called an Irish security guard a “fat Polish f***er”.
Enda Moylette, of Derrycoorane, Islandeady, Castlebar, had pleaded guilty when his case was heard several months previously by Judge Conal Gibbons.
Judge Gibbons had adjourned it to a sitting on Friday last after he ordered the man to save up and pay €1,000 to a Polish charity in lieu of a conviction and a fine.
The case returned before Judge Mary Devins last Friday.
When the question arose at Friday’s court hearing over whether there was a Polish charity in Ireland, Judge Devins remarked: “A Polish charity? There is. It’s called the social welfare.”
Judge Devins issued a statement yesterday after the remarks were reported in some Co Mayo newspapers.
She said that the “recent comment in court was made in the context of – and alluding to – another recent, violent, alcohol-fuelled incident”.
The incident had involved “several defendants of Polish origin who were all recipients of social welfare payments”, she said.
The comment was “intended to be specific to that incident and occurrence and was never intended to offend any community, or members of any community”, she said.
“If insult was taken from my comment I apologise for same,” she added.
At Moylette’s court hearing some months previously Judge Gibbons had described the accused man’s abusive remarks as “quasi-racist comments”.
Judge Gibbons said he could not have people going around expressing these sort of ideas and that these views had to be stopped in their tracks.
Judge Devins’s remarks have provoked many comments on social media and online discussion forums in support of the growing Polish community in Ireland.
For the first time there are more Polish nationals living in the State than UK citizens, figures from the 2011 census found.
The number of Polish nationals in Ireland has grown by 94 per cent since 2006. Polish – with 119,526 speakers – was the foreign language most spoken in the home, the census found.
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