Seán Quinn’s campaign - Courts must prevail in sorry affair

Seán Quinn’s contention, and at this point it is as valuable as any self-serving fantasy, that because the loans he accepted from Anglo Irish Bank may be tainted with illegality that he is not obliged to repay the billions borrowed is as delusional as it is contemptible.

That the debt is owed to the people of Ireland who have had to pick up the Anglo Irish tab — the thick end of €30bn — makes the contention almost seditious. That so many of his fellow citizens are in such dire straits because of the machinations of insatiable “investors” puts the contention in the let-them-eat-cake category of autocratic dismissals.

The vagaries of human nature suggest too that, had Mr Quinn’s investment in Anglo been as profitable as he had once believed, it might then be the legal status of the transactions might never have been questioned.

That the Quinn family have freely admitted that they have tried — and possibly succeeded — to put hundreds of millions in assets beyond the reach of Irish courts and creditors — us — moves the melodrama on to an altogether different plane. It explains why Seán Quinn Jr is in Mountjoy serving a sentence for contempt of court, and why his cousin and business partner Peter Darragh Quinn is a fugitive from our courts.

It does not, however, explain why Seán Quinn Jr is enjoying the kind of preferential treatment in the jail’s training wing that other prisoners must wait months or even years to enjoy. The Minister for Justice must explain why such advantageous and inequitable arrangements are being extended to Mr Quinn Jr.

It has not been established that the loans were administered illegally by Anglo Irish Bank, but even if it eventually is, how does that change the obligation, freely entered into — indeed, eagerly sought — by Mr Quinn and his family to repay the huge sums involved?

Is Mr Quinn suggesting, as it seems he is, that two wrongs would make a right? Is he suggesting that misconduct on the part of the bank — and this is just a claim not yet tested in court — nullifies his loan agreements with the bank? Is he suggesting that taxpayers, already hard-pressed and facing another hair-shirt budget in a few months, should pay his multibillion-euro gambling bills?

Over the weekend, an estimated 4,000 people, including some national GAA figures, held a rally in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, to support Mr Quinn. This was an admirable if misplaced display of tribal loyalty. Mr Quinn has many business and community achievements he can be very proud of. That cannot be denied. However, his exploitation of that well-intended loyalty was as calculated as the court performances that prompted Mr Justice Peter Kelly in the High Court to say that, despite dealing with a growing number of cases involving “national and international fraud, sharp practice, chicanery and dishonesty”, he had never seen anything like the conduct of the Quinn family.

Loyalty must be tempered with judgement or else it becomes blind and destructive. We must also decide if we are to be loyal to individuals or to principles, in this instance it seems impossible to be both. As King Canute discovered, the tide cannot be held back and no matter how loudly Mr Quinn and his supporters protest our courts must prevail in this sorry affair. Any other conclusion would be disastrous for society. The really sad thing is that the Quinn family knows that too.