Quinn director calls on gardaí and PSNI to 'live up to their responsibilities'

A senior director at Quinn Industrial Holdings, John McCartan has said it is up to the authorities on both sides of the border to “live up to their responsibilities” to stop the campaign of intimidation against the company.

“There is no practical legal reason why these businesses wouldn't be here and exist for generations to come. There are a lot of things to be positive about here.

“The only specific problem we have is a campaign to unseat the current management structure, and the current governance structure and the current ownership structure, that is the only problem that exists,” he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Sean O’Rourke show.

“If the authorities on either side of the border here can step up to the plate and live up to their responsibilities then there is no problem and there is no reason why anybody should expect that these businesses won't be here as an economic driver for the region for generations to come.”

Mr McCartan also pointed out that recordings exist of a public meeting at which there was incitement to hatred.

“People felt comfortable enough to go to public meetings and incite hatred and prescribe our execution. Yes, there are recordings of that, people in the media have told me about recordings of it. Apparently the language was so ugly, people told me they would be embarrassed to tell me what was said.

“People have told me about the recordings, if the gardaí don't have them there's something terribly wrong.”

When asked about the reaction of US investors to the threats said there was no way they (the investors) were going to allow a precedent “whereby somebody with an agenda to drive a management team out and install a new one, or install new owners at zero cost, they will never allow that to happen.

“They would never allow that precedent to be created, because if they allowed that precedent to be created here it would happen all over the world.

“If their investment here is challenged to the point to which they are unable to control it and unable to make it work for them, they will make sure that it doesn't work for anybody else. That's a plain rational conclusion to come to, nevertheless they have expressed that to us explicitly.

“You have to acknowledge the nature of the business these people are in, they are finance houses, they are in the business of making money for their investors, they have tens of billions invested around the world, there is no way they are going to allow this precedent.”

Quinn Industrial Holdings executive are to meet with the Garda Commissioner on Tuesday to discuss recent events.

“Over the last four years there's been a campaign of intimidation, defamation, death threats, ugly signage and in general lawless activity has been happening around our businesses and to us personally that has gone unfettered, but nobody's been questioned, nobody's been arrested even the signs of intensive scrutiny of those that we know to be involved haven't been apparent so regardless of what anybody says there has been a systemic failure and we're not looking for heads on plates or anything like that, what we need to do though is to know that the authorities on both sides of the border can establish the environment in which we can go about our business in safety.

“The other morning for the first time in four years we were able to turn up to work without having to run a gauntlet of ugly signage and without having to deal with a barrage of defamatory Facebook posts.

“The fact that that sign had to be cut down in the dark of night, we don't even know who did it, while it was put up on broad daylight, people intimidated and threatened us in broad daylight. I think that's indicative of failure of the State to act here.”

Mr McCartan acknowledged that there has been an increased garda presence since the attack on Kevin Lunney.

“We had the deployment of the armed response unit to the region. I think that may have been happening any way, however, there are a number of vehicles patrolling the areas in and around where we live and other irregular check points.

“There has been marked increase in PSNI activity especially over the last number of days, check points along the roads, unmarked cars pulling people over. Obviously we don't want to create and don't want to live in an over policed state.

“Had the last four years been used by the authorities to keep an eye on those we know to be directly involved in all of this, it wouldn't have been a big draw on resources and the environment in which all of this happened wouldn't have developed.”

When asked about the numbers of those involved, he said: “It's a small number, you could count on the fingers of one hand, those orchestrating on one hand. Foot soldiers are easy to get, if you pay people enough they will do what you want them to do.

“You will always get operatives, that's not what concerns us primarily, it is the fact that people were allowed orchestrate this campaign over a long period of time and were never challenged.

“At the moment these are good healthy businesses, there are 850 highly qualified and highly capable staff working here, there is a plethora of fine factories and a lot of good equipment here.”