Don of Derrylin plays to supporters with mix of defiance and victimhood

Amid warnings by his supporters of “civil unrest” if he was jailed, Seán Quinn is today settling into a nine-week spell behind bars after the High Court ruled his contempt of court orders warranted a jail term.

It’s uncertain whether massed legions of Cavan and Fermanagh folk will descend on Mountjoy Prison over the next few weeks to try and liberate the Don of Derrylin, otherwise known as prisoner #82809.

What is clearer is that despite his consistent demeanour — a strange but calculated blend of defiance and victimhood — the blemish of a jail record will hurt the proud Northerner.

There was a certain inevitability about the unfolding of events as lawyers for IBRC (formerly Anglo Irish Bank) perceptively noted in the High Court last July that the Quinn family seemed happy to go to jail rather than lose control of assets worth €500m.

“It’s as well getting it dealt with,” he told supporters who joined him in the confines of Court 6, despite the fact that he is scheduled to spend Christmas in jail.

Ireland’s former richest man has now followed in the ignominious steps of his son, Seán Jr, after the damning finding by Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne that his conduct was “nothing short of outrageous”.

Earlier, Quinn had allowed tears to form in his eyes as the judge said he was a self-made man who had brought jobs to his native area.

Addressing journalists as “you people”, he chastised them for not investigating how control of his business was taken from him. He claimed the media had been led by people flown in from Australia, America, and England and “selling on their story to the Irish public” — a barbed, jingoistic reference to senior IBRC executives and the financial regulator.

Shortly before 2pm, a Garda van was parked up on a pavement within the complex, ensuring that the one-time billionaire remained out of shot of waiting photographers.

One senses that Quinn isn’t totally unhappy with the veil of martyrdom he will acquire among his followers. However, taxpayers will wear the same clothing for several decades through the 2% levy introduced on most insurance products as a result of the whole sorry debacle.

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