The son of ex-billionaire Sean Quinn has appeared in court after he forgot to produce a valid insurance certificate as his family’s empire was put into receivership.

Around 5000 people are staging a rally in Ballyconnell in Co Cavan this evening in support of the Quinn family.

Sean Quinn said today that he believes his family were the "best thing" that "ever happened" to the former Anglo Irish Bank.

A “mesmerisingly complex” scheme devised by bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn and members of his family to put multi-million assets beyond the reach of the former Anglo Irish Bank and “to feather their own nests” has been described by a judge as the largest and most devious seen to date in the Commercial Court.

The billionaire Quinn family hit back after Sean Quinn's son and nephew were handed jail sentences over an asset-stripping plot, saying the “real perpetrators” continued to walk free.

The grip on the empire controlled by the man who was once Ireland’s richest individual has been prised a further notch open following one of the most dramatic days in the recent history of the Four Courts.

The son and nephew of bankrupt ex-billionaire Sean Quinn have today been sentenced to three months in jail for contempt after trying to hide a €500m property portfolio from the former Anglo Irish Bank.

The son of bankrupt ex-billionaire Sean Quinn, Sean Jnr, and his cousin, Peter Darragh Quinn, have today been sentenced to three months in jail by the High Court in Dublin for contempt.

AN Irish-American businessman with links to the IRA is facing prison and possible deportation to Ireland on weapons, fraud and immigration charges which were only uncovered by US police after his son fatally shot his friend at a party in their family home in Philadelphia.