Paul Quinn’s mother appeals for justice on 17th anniversary of murder

Stephen and Breege Quinn, the parents of Paul Quinn, at their home near Cullyhanna Co Armagh. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

The grieving mother of a young man who was lured to a remote farm shed in the Border area and beaten to death by a gang on this day 17 years ago has pleaded for witnesses to come forward and give them justice.

Paul Quinn’s mother, Breege, spoke out on Sunday as gardaí issued a renewed appeal for information that might identify his killers.

“The gardaí are still investigating the murder,” Breege said.

“Please go and give us justice. It's 17 years now, it's horrific. It's no easier today than it was that evening that he died.” 

Paul, 21, was lured to a farm shed in the Tullyvanus area of Co Monaghan on October 20, 2007, where he was beaten to death by a gang of around a dozen men armed with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels.

Such was the severity of the attack that every major bone in his body below his neck was broken.

His family has always maintained that the IRA carried out the savage murder, alleging that Paul was murdered after getting into a dispute with the son of a senior IRA figure in the south Armagh area.

But Sinn Fáin has consistently denied IRA involvement.

In November 2007 the International Monitoring Commission said current and former members of the IRA may have taken part in the killing.

In a separate post on social media, Breege added that she seeks publicity and highlights Paul's murder "every year at his anniversary." 

"If it happens to coincide with the run-up to an election, so be it," she added. 

To the harassing and attention seeking online trolls (sinn fein supporting or otherwise), I seek publicity and highlight Paul's murder every year at his anniversary. If it happens to coincide with the run-up to an election, so be it. If that bothers you, 🤷‍♂️#RememberPaulQuinn

— Breege Quinn (@BreegeQuinn) October 20, 2024

Paul Quinn, 21, was lured to a farm shed in the Tullyvanus area of Co Monaghan on October 20, 2007, where he was beaten to death by a gang of around a dozen men armed with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels.

Over the years, detectives have followed close to 2,000 lines of inquiry, they have taken over 700 statements and a total of 23 people have been arrested - 14 people arrested in this jurisdiction by An Garda Síochána and nine people arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

In March 2020, a thematic review of the investigation was completed by the Garda Serious Crime Review team and gardaí continue to work with their colleagues in the PSNI in efforts to solve the crime.

They said they believe that there are still people with information in the community who have yet to come forward, and that any information received will be treated with "absolute confidentiality". 

“We firmly believe that the answers to this murder or the evidence that we require to progress this investigation lies within the community - that relationships change or the nature of them, and that people may be in a position now to provide answers to us or come forward to us and give us information that they may not have been previously in a position to do so,” Superintendent Ronan Carey said.

“We want to provide the answers, and we want to provide justice to Paul, to his mother, Breege, and his father, Stephen.” 

Anyone with any information should contact Carrickmacross Garda Station on 042 9690197 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.