‘It will take a bit of getting used to, not to see the Quinn symbol’

Two men sat in the large comfortable foyer of the Slieve Russell Hotel in Co Cavan one afternoon this past week discussing Seán Quinn, former owner of the plush establishment who, over the years, hosted many celebrities including Johnny Cash and Hollywood stars like Sean Penn there.

Neither man was mourning the loss of the Quinn name from the vast business empire, which, according to an announcement last Monday, is to be rebranded.

Mr Quinn said it was "hard to believe" the executives running Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH), or Mannok as it is now called, had decided to drop his name from the businesses he founded. But the pair sipping coffee in the well-appointed hotel lobby weren't finding it at all hard to believe. Both reckoned it was "inevitable", that the name had become "toxic" and it was time to "move on".

“A lot of the workforce are east European and they know nothing about Seán Quinn. He is out of the equation for 10 years,” according to one of the men who added that the passage of time meant more younger workers with no loyalty to the company founder.

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Up to recently he “was still doing laps, driving around the quarries out of pure defiance”, according to one source who said that when the former boss popped his head into one outlying canteen earlier this year, none of the handful of workers there knew who he was.

The question many will ask is if, given the long-running campaign of intimidation including death threats against Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) directors, publicly condemned by Seán Quinn, there will be reprisals following the rebranding.

Just six weeks ago the words "Dara Reilly RIP" were daubed in red on a road sign near the QIH director's Co Cavan home and gardaí continue to maintain a watchful presence around the five directors.

I think most people understand that the rebranding is necessary because there was a lot of negativity after the kidnapping of Kevin Lunney and that negativity attached
itself to the name

Asked if he feared reprisals following the rebranding, company executive John McCartin said: "We are always vigilant. There is always an undercurrent of malice and an undercurrent of an effort to root us out." But the Co Leitrim businessman and former Fine Gael councillor said he believed the rebranding would be a "one day wonder" and that the management team "absolutely" has the support of the community.

Terence Reynolds, principal of the local Scoil Naomh Brid primary school which has 190 pupils – up from 80 just 15 years ago – is upbeat about the future of Ballyconnell. His school has a staff of 25 including 15 teachers, and 19 nationalities among the pupils. Plans are afoot for a €15 million secondary school in the town.

But, he said, everything hinged on the survival of the business empire, which employed about 830 people directly and was now being rebranded as “Mannok”.

“If the Americans pulled out, this region would be an economic wasteland,” he said.

He estimates that 75-80 businesses around Ballyconnell “would not be here” without the industries and, without them, the outlook for the school would be very different, he stressed.

“Seán Quinn has done a lot for this area and it should not be forgotten,” said the Leitrim native who has been principal in Ballyconnell for 13 years. “Likewise, the current directors and management have also played their part in the vibrancy in Ballyconnell. I think it is a massive tragedy the way it has turned out.”

Asked about the rebranding, he said it was the prerogative of the new owners and he could see the logic of it and why they would want “a fresh start”.

“It will take a little bit of getting used to, not to see the Quinn symbol,” he added.

Meeting Quinn lorries on the road or being stuck behind them on the way to and from work is all part of the day’s routine for many living in this Border region. Even those with little sympathy for the former billionaire think it will seem strange to see the familiar “Q” replaced with an “M” on the fleet of up to 200 trucks on these roads.

But the rebranding is not a hot topic in a community which has seen many dramas and was this time last year reeling after the abduction and torture of QIH director Kevin Lunney. He had the letters QIH carved into his chest with a Stanley knife, had his leg broken in two places and was doused in bleach. Seán Quinn, who condemned the attack, complained in a letter to the Vatican that he had been "falsely accused of complicity in the attack from the altar, by my own local priest".

Fr Oliver O’Reilly had, in a homily, commented that a Mafia-style group with its own “Godfather” had been operating in the region and he condemned “the powerful paymaster and his criminal gang” responsible for the “crazed assault”.

One man in Ballyconnell said many eyebrows had been raised locally when Mr Quinn had written to the Vatican, a response not expected from a man who liked to tell colleagues how he had rubbed shoulders with Hillary Clinton and with Barack and Michelle Obama when they stayed at his then hotel, the Hilton in Prague.

Marking the occasion with a photograph in 2009, his local paper, the Impartial Reporter, raved "this is the moment Fermanagh businessman Seán Quinn, famed for his rags-to-riches tale, met Barack Obama, America's first black president".

“And now he’s writing to the Vatican complaining about the local priest. How petty is that?” asked a local who said the former billionaire had made locals look “like fools” .

One local resident, Peter Crossan, believes people around Ballyconnell are not that exercised about the rebranding.

“It would be most people’s understanding that once the family settled their court cases with the banks and the State, that was pretty much that, and things had to move on."

He said the jobs were the priority for many. “I think most people understand that the rebranding is necessary because there was a lot of negativity after the kidnapping of Kevin Lunney and that negativity attached itself to the name. It really was a brand they had to reform.”

Mr Crossan, a part-time farmer, said the attack on Mr Lunney was seen as “a threat to everybody” and a “turning point”.

“And now that the family has settled its litigation I think the feeling is that its time to pull down the curtains and move on.”

Terence Reynolds also believes people are looking to the future with many focused on pressing issues such as Brexit and Covid.

“And I feel there’s an unfortunate impression around the country of Ballyconnell, which is full of law-abiding, working people. It is not the lawless place it has been portrayed to be.”