Quinn made mistakes but so did the bankers

Why would between four and five thousand people turning up in Ballyconnell in Co Cavan last weekend to support a family who by their own admission tried, and are still trying, to hide assets from the State — in effect, from the taxpayer?

That so many of them appeared to represent the great and the good from both the Catholic Church and the Gaelic Athletic Association, including a Fine Gael MEP, only makes matter worse. It just proves you can fool some of the people some of the time. But why do we behave like so many yoyos?

Sean Quinn, patriarch of the Quinn family, started a business in Co Cavan some 30 years ago and built it into a conglomerate incorporating quarrying, concrete production, property development, and insurance.