While you watch Prime Time Tomorrow night RTE1 remember what Captain Mannering(POB) once said.

"Sean Quinn will never be in charge again, says O'Brien"

In April, the Quinn Family will finally have their say in court. Many questions will have to be answered by the Powers That Be.

How these shadowy outfits in power will handle this is anyone guess but from past experiences this is one they will find hard to wriggle out of. They tried everything to stop this case.

Public opinion is changing and now most people are no longer brainwashed by daily tabloids and RTE. The world of Social Media is a powerful tool to get the real facts out. That is why Governments worldwide are trying to curtail these sites.

As many of you will have noticed they are finding it harder every day to hide their dirty work and have you not noticed the contempt they have for us all and the corruption is unbelievable.

Always remember we vote these people into power but senior civil servants never change and they exercise tremendous power over Government Ministers. To fix our corrupted State these senior civil servants should also be replaced with each new Government.  

This is how it always was but now they are finding it very harder to hide their fraudulence activities.

Still be in no doubt there are many who refuse to reach out or couldn't be bothered to know the full facts and believe everything that is put on their TV's and written in newspapers to be true.

Anglo tried everything to destroy the Sean Quinn and his Family and failed.

They locked Sean Quinn up but that is something they never wanted to happen "That was a huge mistake on their behalf and a turning point when Sean went behind bars". They would have preferred to have him outside threatening him with jail every few months. They locked his son up and what parent wants to see their child going to jail. It was their intention to do the same with the rest of the family but they realized that would be a very unpopular move.

Still Sean Quinn fought back and then they realized they could never get him off their backs.

Now we will find out in the coming months what Anglo, The Regulator, The Central Bank and the Dept. of Finance were really up-to.

It will be an interesting time. Can they really afford to hang their dirty washing in a public arena?

Matthew Elderfield (Regulator) should also be brought to Justice for what he did but that will never happen.

We wait and see.

Has Paul O'Brien  finally realized he was wrong? 

He did the dirty work on behalf of Anglo so for that no forgiveness of your sins Paul, no matter what  good words you utter about Sean Quinn on Prime Time next Tuesday night. No one trusts or believes you. You just say what suits the situation at the time with little regards for the hurt you have done to so many.

You destroyed and looted a great company and now you are trying to bask in the Glory.

I was only staff member to miss 40pc bonus - Quinn Jr

SEAN Quinn Jr has claimed he was the only employee among Quinn Insurance's 2,500 staff who did not receive a 40pc bon

The son of businessman Sean Quinn also said he was not awarded an additional €40,000-a-year bonus paid to directors at the end of five years with the former firm.

Mr Quinn said all employees received an average bonus of 40pc, but that this could be as high as 80pc.

But the 35-year-old told the Employment Appeals Tribunal yesterday he had not received the bonus during his latter years with the company.

The tribunal also heard that Mr Quinn had been appointed claims director in December 2006, but that he was dismissed months before he became eligible for the five-year bonus.

Mr Quinn, who was employed by the company for 11 years before he was made redundant in August 2011, had earned a salary of €75,000, short of bonuses.

It was also claimed Mr Quinn accepted a role as general director of Russian company Logistica on June 2, 2011, on the same day he met with joint administrator Michael McAteer to discuss his future with Quinn Insurance.

Barrister for Mr McAteer Conor Power SC said Mr Quinn had taken on a contractor role with the firm, and a second role with another Russian company, Finnanstroy, in May 2011, while he was still an employee at Quinn Insurance.

Mr Power said it was "highly significant" that Mr Quinn was earning a salary of €400,000 from these roles, which he said raised the issue of Mr Quinn's capacity to do his job with Quinn Insurance.

Mr Quinn said he had not told Mr McAteer he had been appointed general director of Logistica at the meeting, and also admitted he did not ask for permission from senior management to take on either role.

Mr Quinn told the tribunal that after wide-scale redundancies were announced on April 30, 2011, Mr McAteer told him he need not attend any further senior management meetings.

Mr Quinn said: "I expressed my frustration, that I felt he was picking on me."

He said he was later asked by Mr McAteer to take redundancy, an offer he refused.

"I said I wouldn't, because it was my family's intention to become involved in the company again as shareholders.

"He said that was highly unlikely."

In a letter dated June 20, 2011, Mr McAteer notified Mr Quinn that he was not a suitable candidate for the positions available within the company.

Mr McAteer said a role he had taken on in the UK no longer existed and that he was being dismissed, the tribunal heard.

Mr Quinn is seeking compensation of €3,365.37 per week since August 2011.

Go get them Sean! They stole your company and then billed the insurance consumers for 1.65 billion despite the fact that McAteer went before a High Court Judge for nine months and said that it was a profitable company. 

Funny how his other finances, interests or jobs were not addressed but then it is a case of one law for the people who raped and pilfered the Quinn companies and another for the family who built them from nothing and created thousands of jobs, not to mention the thousands of workers who lost their jobs because of the putting into administration of a company based on what we now know was erroneous or deliberate misinterpretation of alleged cross guarantees by the Financial Regulator who REFUSES to answer any questions on the matter.

It is frightening to think that McAteer is now a Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP) among his other gravy train salaried positions. Vulture picking the carcass is an understatement. God help the vulnerable people who are at the mercy of this man.

A delegation from the community of Ballyconnell to meet with members of Vidrala on February 2nd

A local delegation from the community of Ballyconnell will meet with members of the Spanish Company Vidrala in over 10 days time to stress the importance of the former Quinn Glass company to the community.  A meeting has been finalised in the area with the Chairman and other representatives of Vidrala on February 2nd.

It’s to highlight the concerns of the community about the recent takeover of the company and to press upon them the need for these jobs to remain in the area.  Earlier this month, Vidrala purchased the former Quinn Glass businesses in Derrylin and Elton as well as the filling operation at Elton, for a total of 408.6 million euro.

Fr Gerry Comiskey is a friend of the Quinn Family and parish priest in Drumlane, he told Northern Sound News more about this meeting.

The  Bondholders who supported the QBRC  bid would not support the bid for Glass and would not allow QBRC to buy Glass. 

Yet they supported Papa Paul (Captain Mannering) even though he was a complete  loser and they lost million's by having him in charge. 

He cannot even tell a lie as today's Business Post article confirms.

("We don't give information to any anonymous organization".)

"They're crying foul that we didn't give them information related to the sale but to be honest we didn't know who the Management was, where the funding was going to come from and we don't give information to any anonymous organization.

What a sick man and the bondholders supported him.

Bondholders  manage funds for others (it's not their money) so they win and loose every day.

They wont be as quick again to rush in and take a company anywhere in the world.

They were completely hoodwinked by  M.Mckillop  and Anglo Irish Bank so they cannot be as smart as they think they are.  Fancy words, slick lawyers and accountants did them little good. POB with his cronies had  their  fingers in their pockets  from day one. 

He cleaned them out.

The bondholders lost a fortune and it's good enough for them. No pity in the local community for them after  how they treated our community.

It was like the doctor insisting we take the medicine as he knows best.

Always remember  how they promised  from day one of the takeover to  keep the Quinn companies together, protect jobs and  build the company.

Live and learn and watch what becomes of these type of people in the future. You reap what you sow.

PO'B has a lot reaping to do for what he and his buddies did.

PAPA PAUL O'BRIEN TRIPS HIMSELF UP AGAIN WITH LIES.

Paul O'Brien interview on the front page of the Sunday Business Post reveals the true character of the man. He speaks about the local bid for Quinn Glass and states "No locally funded bid had been made beyond a letter of interest and the promise of a fully funded bid was not forthcoming".

Later on in the article he says, "They're crying foul that we didn't give them information related to the sale but to be honest (O'Brien does not know the meaning of the word honest, it appears) we didn't know who the Management was, where the funding was going to come from and we dont give information to any anonymous organization. But that chapter is closed".

1 Well Mr. O'Brien, how can anybody who has been denied the financials of a company that they have stated they want to buy, provide confirmation of funding for that company without the very core essentials? Did the other bidders provide confirmation of funding without the financial documentation? Why was due diligence and proper procedures not followed in this case?

2 O'Brien says "We dont give information to any anonymous organization". This is where the blatant lies catch up with him. Presumably the letter of interest was signed by an individual(s) and therefore it was not anonymous. If he had not been determined to discard the local bid, he could have sought more information and indeed if O'Brien had any regard for the workforce, the community or indeed fair procedure, he would not have ensured that that note of interest was discarded inappropriately. One has to wonder what lies Vidrala were fed about the company and the strength of feelings in the entire region about the sale of Quinn Glass.

Finally, O'Brien says that his "presence in Fermanagh is not longer needed". Let us be absolutely clear Paul O'Brien, "Your presence in Fermanagh was NEVER NEEDED and we are so much the worse off after the trail of destruction that you have left in your wake. 

Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish!"

Return of Sean Quinn 'worth millions'

The return of Ireland’s one-time richest man to part of his old empire after bankruptcy has attracted dozens of big clients back to do business, his colleagues have said.

Entrepreneur Sean Quinn’s three-year hiatus ended last month when he emerged as a consultant at the former headquarters of his manufacturing plants on the Irish border.

And the local businessmen and former directors in the defunct Quinn Group who back his quiet reappearance have claimed the prospect of the old boss walking the factory floor drove a string of deals in the last month.

Reluctant to give much away about his day-to-day role, senior figures in the Quinn Business Retention Corporation said they have an open door policy for the 67-year-old, and his connections.

“His presence alone is worth millions,” John McCartin said.

The steel manufacturer and councillor from Leitrim – one of three investors who last year secured €100m to buy a string of former Quinn factories in the border region – befriended the former billionaire after he lost control of the group in 2011.

Among the factories in the buy-out are operations in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh and Ballyconnell, Co Cavan including cement, tarmac, roof tiles, blocks and packaging.

Since it went through last autumn dozens of companies across Ireland and the UK have sought to do business with the Quinn name once again.

Mr McCartin claimed the spike in interest in the manufacturing business is “a lot in this line”.

“A lot of customers returned to the business on foot of the news that Sean would have a presence there again, and he would have spoken to a lot of them, ” he said.

As part of the deal to officially exit bankruptcy today Mr Quinn will pay €20,000 over the next two years.

But the tab left for the Irish taxpayer to pick up from his doomed stock market gamble that Anglo Irish Bank would survive the 2008 financial crash is about €2.5bn.

There is also the not insignificant levy on insurance products as a result of the bailout of the former cash-cow of the empire, Quinn Insurance.

Those close to Quinn stressed that January 16, 2015 is not being marked by him or his family as a triumphant red letter day.

They say his focus is on the looming courtroom battle with the Irish state over his and his family’s mammoth old Anglo debts, chased by lawyers for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

“I hope that Sean Quinn’s role in society increases but his role in public decreases,” Mr McCartin said.

“When Sean is at his best and making progress nobody notices and when he is in bother everybody talks about him.”

Mr Quinn has told associates that he will not do any interviews, without exception, until his legal fight against the State over debts from his Anglo stock gamble ends.

The Quinn glass business was sold to Spanish group Vidrala this week for €400m but with the QBRC investment team confident that within five years they can buy out their American backers’ stakes in the manufacturing divisions they are also eyeing up a deal for a share of the glass enterprise.

Union Jostling for Power

http://www.northernsound.ie/news/local-delegates-secure-meeting-with-the-president-of-vidrala-for-next-week/


The ideal of a Union for workers is wonderful as a paper exercise but in reality does nothing.  Either you work for an ethical company or not.

What the UNION  really does for most companies is cause strikes and go slows when the Management is not playing ball with them.

Will the unions stop any redundancies should Vidrala go down that route?

The answer is "NO". 

Have they any power to stop layoffs and redundancies and the answer is “NO".

Would they call for a strike and once again the answer is no even if the employees wanted to strike.

We've seen how they behaved during the Paul O'Brien days of tyranny and they did little to support the workers.
Remember how UNITE had union members (dubious guys in the pay of Aventas) outside Quinn Group property even after the deal with QBRC was agreed. 

All they did was take the Dues of the workers and probably a backhander as well  from Aventas .

The community have more faith in the Local Group meeting Vidrala than any UNION.

Remember SIPTU when they had the so called Secret Bank Account that nobody knew nothing about.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/siptu-slush-fund-still-shrouded-in-mystery-26688460.html

Local delegates have secured a meeting with the President of Vidrala to discuss its acquisition of the former Quinn Glass business and all possibilities going forward.

It was confirmed earlier this week that the Spanish owned glass company acquired Encirc’s manufacturing plants in Derrylin and Elton as well as the filling operation at Elton for 408.6 million euro.

A local group met with QBRC yesterday to discuss their options and they’re concerns were relayed to the President of Vidrala.

A meeting has since been confirmed with the President of Vidrala for next week.

Meanwhile trade union UNITE say it is the only body that can negotiate on behalf of workers at the Derrylin plant.

They represent 70 per cent of the work force there and have also received assurances from Vidrala.

Eugene McGlone Regional Co-ordinating Officer with Unite says they are the professionals (ha Ha) and it is their role to negotiate terms and conditions for workers.(what a joke)http://www.northernsound.ie/news/local-delegates-secure-meeting-with-the-president-of-vidrala-for-next-week/

Spain's Vidrala buys former Quinn Glass business for €408.6m

Now didn't that happen before when Rooftiles was sold to Lagan

Transport sold to Ceva.

Did they sign the final deal. Could someone remind me what happened them?

PAUL'S VISIT TONIGHT

Paul O Brien is allegedly visiting glass tonight, flanked by personal security and PSNI. He is obviously there to intimidate workers once more and tell them of the “outstanding” offer he has for glass and if they don't support it, they will be sacked. Of course they were never consulted about the sale but those who attended the meeting last night are now aware of the underhand tricks played on the local prospective bidders by refusing to give them the financial figures, which would have allowed them make an informed offer. This contradicts very definitely the lie in his communication to workers that the man representing the local bidder “was accorded the same courtesy” as other bidders.

The preferred bidder has said “in the strongest possible terms that it is of the utmost importance for them to integrate with the local communities” and they want “A positive outcome for employees and local communities.” Well, Paul, the local communities and brave employees gave the answer in their thousands last night. WE WANT GLASS UNDER LOCAL MANAGEMENT!

Thank you for your interest and endorsement, Vidrala, but please leave our glass plant to the locals and Paul, please stop threatening our workers. Obviously he feels the night shift workers are easier to intimidate as they are the ones addressed on Saturday night too.

Bullying is wrong.

We received some pictures this evening from the meeting last night in Ballyconnell. We were informed a video will be available shortly.

Doors opened at 6-30pm with all seats filled by 7pm,  Nobody wants to stand on a cold wet windy street in the middle of Winter so the Community Centre opened the Gym on the other side of the stage to accommodate the huge crowd attending. That was soon filled as well. Thank's  again to all who took the time to be there.

As you can see from the pictures everyone was reading very carefully the circular which make's very interesting reading indeed.

Don't worry if you could not get a copy. We will make that available as well shortly.

We also want to thank Aventas Security for attending even if they did not make themselves known. We are  sure they quickly reported back what Paul and Mike did not want to hear.

Many have asked "What Next"?

The organizers of last nights  meeting are holding some high level talks in the coming days so by early next week we will inform you what is the next action.

This is far from over and we will never allow Aventas to walk all over our Community again.

The message is very clear,  "Aventas and any other company coming to Derrylin to grab property will never be accepted".

We had enough lies from Aventas to last us a lifetime. No more trying to brainwash us with words like "this is a great deal for the community and we should all be happy to support it".

The message was very clear from last night meeting.

Huge Turnout In Ballyconnell This Evening to Hear The True Facts About The Sale Of Quinn Glass

Just as we reported yesterday in our post "Response" to Paul O'Brien and the Aventas hordes we had to go tonight to the community Centre in Ballyconnell to learn the full facts of what was really going on about the sale of Quinn Glass.

 Let us remind you what they wrote.

For many it was no surprise to hear what was really happening and contrary to what Mike McTighe and POB said in their letter that no bid came from any local consortium we discovered the real facts.

Paul O'Brien made sure that QGRC (a group setup to buy glass) would not get any information about the accounts of Quinn Glass. Lazard (middlemen between Aventas and Bondholders) are under Aventas control or so it seems, refused to pass on any information to QGRC and who would buy a pig in a bag if you are not allowed to see the books. The Spanish company (VIDRALA) plus the other bidders were given full access to the accounts with no questions asked. Have we not heard this story from somewhere else before?

That is the reason no local bid was made.

From the tone of the speakers and the rapturous applause nobody wanted the Spanish (VIDRALA) buy out to take place. Over and over we heard about the lies of Paul O'Brien and the past Chairman Pat O’Neill how no companies would be sold and Minister Noonan said on April 14th on the day of the takeover that Quinn Glass would not be sold for 5 years. That is not due until April 2016. So all broken promise's and finally the people have awoken to these lies.

We also heard that QBRC were not allowed to bid  for Quinn Glass. We wonder why?

The community now know that Aventas is not to be trusted in any way.

Many workers from Glass were at the meeting which showed great courage and strength as we are sure they will be victimized by management for attending. They need not worry for after tonight's meeting they are not alone and the community gave a very clear message to Aventas and the Spanish Glass company (VIDRALA) that they are not wanted here.

We also learned that the Spanish company (VIDRALA) like to have factories near ports and motorways “well that is what they have on the website" Bye, bye Glass Factory Derrylin as they will not want a Glass factory 200 miles from the sea on a mountainside. Already they are looking for a smaller Glass Factory to buy as they have no intention of rebuilding the furnace once it reaches it life cycle which is shortly.

LISTEN to the community and we ask the Bondholders to allow a bid from the local consortium QGRC to take place.

Anything else will not be tolerated. They have a choice. Let’s hope they make the right one.

Bully Boys

Bullying and intimidation - all in a day’s work.

Reports are reaching us of employees being threatened by management over comments they made on the CIC page which were either anti the Spanish buyout, disputing Paul O’Brien’s email, or advertising the meeting in Ballyconnell tonight. 

Employees have been told to remove posts made and to “unlike” comments. On some occasions the workers have been told to delete their face book profiles altogether.

 It really isn't nice working under this type of oppression. It never happened in Quinn’s time!

Noel McGovern, Paul Dolan and John Harrison - to name but a few - should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

 It will be all right for them, they will be gone off into the sunrise with their 30 pieces of silver (or 200,000 in some cases) and we will be left with huge job losses.

STICK TOGETHER PEOPLE! DON’T STAND FOR THIS TYRANNY! COME TO THE MEETING TONIGHT IN BALLYCONNELL AT 8PM AND GET ALL THE FACTS - BEFORE IT‘S TOO LATE!

Quinn to pay €10,000 a year from future income for the next two years.

Former billionaire Sean Quinn must pay €10,000 a year from any earnings over the next two years to the court official who has been overseeing his bankruptcy.

Mr Quinn will be discharged from bankruptcy on Friday.

He was declared bankrupt at the High Court three years ago.  

This morning, lawyers for the Official Assignee, the court official overseeing his bankruptcy, said he had interviewed Mr Quinn in the light of reports that he was returning to some of his former businesses.

Senior Counsel Bernard Dunleavy said Mr Quinn had made an offer in relation to any future income he might enjoy and that offer was satisfactory.

The High Court ordered Mr Quinn to pay €10,000 a year to the Official Assignee for the next two years as agreed between the two sides.

Under the Bankruptcy Act, the Official Assignee can make an application in relation to the income of a bankrupt regardless of the fact that he or she is due to be discharged.

Our Response

The preferred bidder for Quinn Glass as announced today in a Sunday tabloid is VIDRALA.

See web link

Send them an email and let them know how the community feels about them in Derrylin.

Here is the link for a quick welcome message

http://www.vidrala.com/en/contact

Website:  http://www.vidrala.com/en/

Main Number +34 946 719 700(Monday-Friday)

Sales+34 946 719 710 

export@vidrala.com

Quality+34 946 719 771

calidad@vidrala.com

Now we will  hear in the coming days that it's a great deal  for the community and that they will protect jobs and grow the business. All lies as we have learned  from the past 4 years. How many will be gone in the first 6 months?

Run it into the ground and then sell it off again or close the Derrylin Factory and move everything to Elton.

Whatever they say and do our community will suffer.

Once Again We Are Seeing Paul O'Briens Dirty Work. The community says NO NO NO. Not wanted. We trust nothing they tell us.

The Community Does Not Support Outsiders. They have no interest in our community just grabbers.

Vidrala wins bidding war for Quinn Glass

Spanish bottle maker is poised to snap up Encirc in €400m deal

THE Spanish bottle manufacturer Vidrala is to buy the former Quinn Glass operations in Ireland and the UK, in a deal worth up to €400m.

Vidrala, which is valued at almost €1bn on the Spanish stock exchange, has emerged as the preferred bidder for the business following a three-month sale process. The deal is likely to be completed this week.

The former Quinn business, rebranded last year as Encirc, employs about 1,100 people at Derrylin in Fermanagh and Elton in Cheshire. It has valuable contracts with drinks groups Diageo and Britvic.

Vidrala has operations in Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium and Italy, mainly obtained through acquisitions over the past decade. In the nine months to the end of September 2014, sales were €363m and it made an operating profit of more than €54m, latest 

Breaking News

Massive walkout is planned at Quinn Glass, Staff no longer trust management.

Does trust the lying shower of B's

GLASS WORKERS BEWARE

It was hard to read the letter sent by Mike Mc Tighe and Paul O Brien yesterday, without laughing, if it was not so serious. In a lengthy statement they tried to brainwash people into a false sense of security and unfortunately succeeded in some quarters.

I would like to make a few comments on their arguments:
They engaged in “an extensive bid process”; they forgot to say it was a secretive process whereby details were sent to selected glass companies and hedge funds in Europe and America. No-one in Ireland was invited to submit bids and the sale was never advertised in local or national press. How were locals supposed to know about the sale? When QBRC heard about the sale they only got CIS on condition they had nothing to do with glass; they were, in fact, banned from bidding for it. FAIR????

The letter writers quibble with the fact that people want it “retained” locally. OK people want it returned to the people who built it and made it into a successful business. When the Quinns win their case verifying that these businesses were in fact stolen from them, where will glass be? In Spanish hands! One must query why such haste to get rid of a great business to outsiders? A simple vendetta against Quinn! Make sure the American bondholders get their money but leave the locals with nothing!

The writers also admit that while these are great glass people with numerous plants, Derrylin and Elton are the most modern in their “portfolio”.
Well done, Sean Quinn! The extensive men in Europe couldn't compete with you! Interesting point “in their portfolio”. Have these guys already sold out? Is Quinn Glass already in their portfolio?

These modern plants built locally will, in the words of these 2, become a “subsidiary” to lesser plants. Not good enough, gentlemen. They are the leaders in Europe. As far as this Spanish set-up is concerned Derrylin is on the periphery of the periphery of Europe and they can say what they like now but they have no commitment to keeping Derrylin open. They can steal the customers and produce the glass in Spain with cheaper materials and cheaper labour.

“No job losses!” We heard it from the administrator Michael Mc Ateer in Quinn-Direct, from Michael Noonan, from Arlene Foster and what did we get? Redundancies and pay-offs all round and those who told us differently never let on. Paul O Brien said that Sean Quinn would never be back. Mike Mc Tighe said Quinn Group was in “uncontrollable insolvency”. Sorry men you lied before and talked rubbish; we can not believe you now.

One final question to the bondholders: Why have you such a vendetta against our little rural community? Are you angry because you wrongly took guarantees on subsidiaries of a regulated entity? Or because you supported a share receiver on the word of a fraudulent bank? Whatever the reason you are allowing our livelihoods to be taken from us in the most ruthless way. Our insurance company is gone to Americans; our windfarm to French and now you want our glass plant to go to Spaniards. Don't be misled by the unscrupulous lies of Aventas and leave us our livelihoods.

I am sure Sean wont mind giving them his £5,000 per year salary that's if he even takes one. After all they took every thing else he owned.

Quinn exits bankruptcy - but still faces salary threat

Sean Quinn will walk free from debt on Friday, as big court battle looms.

FORMER billionaire Sean Quinn could be forced to surrender his earnings for the next two years once his bankruptcy expires this week.

• 
  

The former tycoon is due to receive an automatic discharge from his debts of €2bn to the former Anglo Irish Bank on Friday, three years to day since he was officially declared bust with just €300 in cash to his name.

But in a setback to his hopes for a fresh start, Mr Quinn is due before the High Court tomorrow when the court-appointed official supervising his bankruptcy is expected to seek an income payment order over all or part of his future earnings in the next two years.

Chris Lehane, the official assignee of bankruptcy, is expected to make the case before Ms Justice Caroline Costello at 11am. The case is listed as number 52 in the legal diary under "Sean Quinn, bankrupt". If the application is approved, Mr Lehane would have a claim on part or all of Mr Quinn earnings until 2017, with the money most likely going into a pot for his creditors, mainly IBRC.

The High Court action follows reports last month that Mr Quinn had landed a job as a consultant or advisor with the company owned by a consortium of his business supporters who bought back parts of his old Quinn empire.

However, one of those involved in the new company said that Mr Quinn's salary had not even been discussed.

John McCartin, a businessman and councillor, who was involved in the bid for the former Quinn Group companies, said: "After all he has done and been through and experiences he has had in life, I think he is beyond offers of a job. I think his role will be advisory and consultative."

He added: "Remuneration hasn't even been discussed yet. We don't expect him to do it for nothing."

He said Mr Quinn would not be joining the board of the company or taking a stake in the new firm but had "offered to help in any way he can: "He has a huge interest in seeing how to move on the business from here."

The former tycoon benefits from the Government's new insolvency laws that cut the period of bankruptcy from 12 years to three. His emergence from bankruptcy means he is now free to leave the country, without first informing the official assignee, to become a company director and to can borrow money.

Even with an income payment order on his earnings, he will still walk free from the bulk of the enormous and disputed debts, which were owed to the bank and are now due to the taxpayer.

Sean Quinn went bankrupt soon after he was ordered by the High Court to repay more than €2bn to the former Anglo Irish Bank.

Once the richest man in Ireland, he ran up the debts while gambling on the bank's share price as the economic crash loomed. Nationalised, under new management and renamed IBRC, the bank pursued Mr Quinn for the massive debts on behalf of the taxpayer. The highest judgments ever made by an Irish Court were made against Mr Quinn for sums of €417m and €1.7bn.

Mr Quinn claimed he was working to repay the money when he was unceremoniously ousted from the Quinn Group in April 2011 by an IBRC-appointed special receiver. Quinn first attempted to go bankrupt in Northern Ireland but that was overturned. He was subsequently declared bankrupt in Ireland. He was jailed for "serious" contempt of court in 2012 after a High Court judge found that he had sanctioned an asset-stripping scheme. The judge said he had only himself to blame. Before he was led to jail, he told reporters that the former IBRC had taken his money, his companies, his reputation and had him thrown in jail.

The Quinn Group, rebranded as Aventas in 2013, began selling off the companies in the group, fuelling a spate of around 70 violent attacks and vandalism against various Quinn properties. The attacks are understood to have stopped completely in recent months.

A group of his former top executives and business supporters set up the Quinn Business Retention Company, which with foreign backing, bought up the packing and construction supplies business from Aventas in December.

Although Mr Quinn had no role in the group, he returned to the Derrylin headquarters to cheers, the day before Christmas Eve, to share a crate of beer and whiskey with employees. Sources said he has dropped in regularly to the old Quinn Group headquarters at Derrylin ever since. "He is back where he belongs, doing what he does best," said one source.

Sean Quinn's wife, Patricia, and five children are engaged in a mammoth battle with the now liquidated IBRC over a disputed €2.3bn in debts. Their case against IBRC alleging the unlawful issuing of loans opens in the High Court in April this year, on the fourth anniversary of the seizure of his business.

Glass Directors And Aventas Will Walk Away Happily With Pockets Full of Money From The Sale of Quinn Glass

Lets say  the Selling Price for Quinn Glass Factory is £320 Million.

The directors will get a slice of this sale of at least 1%  (but perhaps even more) that amounts to £3,200.000

With six Directors that's  a cool £500k each. 

I doubt it will be  evenly distributed  as the MD  of Glass will get the biggest slice. The new buyers of Glass will need to keep the existing directors on board so for them it's all sunshine and roses. Nothing to lose with this sale for them. 

What will the workers get? 
"NOTHING". 

Aventas management will get a  piece of the cake as well for selling  Quinn Glass which will be at least 2% to 5% of the selling price.

So it easy to see what it's all about "greed and money".

Make's you wonder why the bondholders would want to sell this business?

So once more what will the workers get? 
"NOTHING"

Seán Quinn gets hero’s welcome as locals begin rebuilding empire

The entrepreneur is back in business and has even got himself a job in his old group

By Gerry Moriarty Northern Ireland Irish Times Editor.

“Seán’s back.” The phrase flashed through Derrylin and Ballyconnell when Seán Quinn, for the first time since he lost his empire in the spring of 2011, walked back into the headquarters of the old Quinn Group on the Cavan-Fermanagh border on Tuesday, December 23rd.

Three years ago, such an entrance would have seemed fanciful, but here he was carrying glasses of whiskey and bottles of beer for his former employees.

This was all made possible after a local consortium involving, among others three of his former senior managers and local businessman John McCartin, paid €100 million to the Aventas Group for a substantial portion of Quinn’s old empire. This was done with the support of the US bond holders who effectively own Quinn’s former manufacturing operations through Aventas, which took over when Quinn went bust. Down with the Aventas sign, back up with the old “Q” symbol.

It doesn’t mean Quinn is back in the boardroom but he is back in a position of influence. It’s like old times. Who knows what will happen next?

Quinn (67) has a “consultancy” role now but McCartin doesn’t dismiss the possibility that he could yet be sitting at the boardroom table – or even in his old chairman’s seat.

“There isn’t a person on the planet that I would rule out of future directorships or ownership of this business,” says McCartin, who turned 40 last Tuesday. That applies both to Seán Quinn and his family, he adds.
“I love to see muck on the road,” McCartin says, as we drive up the mountain in his 07 Mercedes-Benz past the various quarries from which Quinn first made his fortune. Muck and dirt mean the Christmas holiday is over and that the Quinn green-liveried lorries are back in business hauling limestone from Slieve Rushen to be pulverised, cooked and transformed into cement in the huge factory below.

From the mountain you can see some of what Quinn created – and what he lost by the gamble on Anglo Irish Bank, which he is now taking to court: extensive cement and glass operations, plastic and packaging, and tile-making factories below us; windfarms behind us on top of the mountain; the Slieve Russell Hotel just outside Ballyconnell. All of this across large tracts of land around Ballyconnell and Derrylin and all from the fervid entrepreneurial spirit of Seán Quinn.

“There was always something new coming with Seán,” says McCartin. “He just seemed to have sat and thought every day about how he would make things grow and about how he would make things better than they were the day before.”

Symmetry
He clearly admires the man, which isn’t surprising as there are symmetry and empathy here. He’s a son of former Fine Gael MEP Joe McCartin, who with his brother Tommy created piggeries, structural steel, clothing and animal feed factories in the 1960s. They brought hundreds of jobs to parts of Leitrim where there were never jobs before, just as from the 1970s Quinn brought thousands of jobs to parts of Fermanagh, Cavan and Leitrim where there were never jobs.

However both operations overextended and both went wallop, with the McCartins and the Quinns arguing that, had they been given more time, most or everything could have been rescued.

McCartin, who is also a Fine Gael councillor in Leitrim, runs a structural steel company in nearby Newtowngore in Co Leitrim, employing about 40 people. He pumps with energy, although this must be a stressful time.

He is also a guitarist with an honours MA in traditional music from the University of Limerick. While we are chatting, a phone call comes in from singer Eleanor Shanley inquiring if he could help out playing guitar at one of her gigs. He brings to mind the adage that if you want something done, ask a busy man.

When Quinn lost his business in April 2011, his manufacturing companies were taken over by a company which rebranded itself as the Aventas Group. Both the takeover and the ditching of the Quinn name caused huge resentment in the area. There were several attacks on the company’s property and vehicles, with staff threatened and the home of the group’s chief executive, Paul O’Brien, subjected to an arson attack.
Last month McCartin and three of the Quinn Group’s former senior managers – Liam McCaffrey, Dara O’Reilly and Kevin Lunney – took over at the group’s Gortmullen headquarters. McCartin is chairman of the holding company, the Quinn Business Retention Company, and a member of the board of Quinn Industrial Holdings which runs the company. McCaffrey is chief executive and O’Reilly is finance director while Lunney also holds a senior post.

The company employs about 700 people with the glass company still in the hands of Aventas employing about 600. It is estimated that the two operations provide work for about 3,000 people indirectly in the general area.

On December 23rd McCartin joined some of the workers on a cherrypicker to take down Aventas signs and to expose the old “Q” Quinn Group logo. There was a brief attempt by some people to burn one of the signs but that was stopped by McCartin.

Nonetheless, some gloss was taken off the occasion by the arrival of PSNI officers in five unmarked police cars over alleged “criminal activity”. That angered local people, who felt it was somehow pettily motivated by the return of Quinn. “It was bizarre to say the least,” says McCartin.

McCartin’s involvement stemmed from local people asking him about a year ago to try to get as much as possible of the old Quinn Group back into local ownership. With McCaffrey, O’Reilly, Lunney and others on board, it all led – by a circuitous route – to the €100 million buyout of the former local Quinn concerns, apart from the glass company.

McCartin realises that many people may think the €100 million was quietly funded by Quinn. “Yeah, there are people who are saying, ‘Sure you are only an oul’ puppet’. I am sure it is said all over the country. It does not really annoy me because it is immaterial. Ask the bondholders where the money came from. All you have to do is follow the money because the money will tell you the truth.”

Quinn’s remuneration and work schedule are not yet worked out. “We are not going to put him on a clock,” McCartin says. But he will bring Irish and international customer contacts and the goodwill of the staff and the local community. He may also bring new ideas. Co-operation
Moreover, when the company needs to buy more rock, it can expect the co-operation of Quinn’s old neighbours and friends who own land on the mountain.

Local people acknowledge Quinn made the most disastrous of gambles when he wagered €2.8 billion on Anglo Irish Bank but, as McCartin also says, they feel he was “hoodwinked” by some of the bankers and speculators he fell in with in Dublin.

But was he not brought down because he was greedy?

“That’s true and so am I; I don’t know anybody who thinks they have too much,” says McCartin. And then he qualifies: “From what I know of Seán Quinn he leads an extraordinarily modest lifestyle. He does not seem to mourn the fact that he does not drive new cars or fly in helicopters any more; it does not seem to mean anything to him at all.

“But he is very excited about the prospect of getting back on the side of the mountain; he is very excited about the prospect of looking at how those businesses work and seeing what is the best thing to do with them again. I would say he has huge ambition rather than personal greed.”

As the Quinn family case against Anglo Irish will be taking place in the spring he won’t do press interviews, not that he was ever forthcoming to the media.

McCartin understands there are many people who feel Quinn brought all the trouble on himself and in so doing was part of the group who wrecked the country. “But,” says McCartin, “I believe the nation in its entirety does not understand the path that led to the appointment of the share receiver at Quinns and if they did, they’d be far less sure about who was right and who was wrong.”

McCartin is absolutely convinced that rather than putting Quinn into receivership, he should have been allowed to try to get the group back on a sounder footing. “If he owed the money to me I would have left him where he was because that was the best prospect of getting the money back. The bondholders will get some money back but the State will get nothing.”
And that’s what you’ll hear in Derrylin and Ballyconnell, where Quinn remains a local hero; you won’t hear any allegations about “cowboy” business tactics, as you might hear elsewhere.
“He is as good as God to us around this country,” says Ballyconnell butcher Gerard Crowe. “We’ve seen this town with the Troubles and nothing in it; there’d be tumbleweed in the town only for Sean Quinn.”
Pádraig Donohoe, who employs 175 people in three supermarkets in Ballyconnell, Ballinamore and Belturbet, hopes the new group will also get their hands on the glass factory, which would mean virtually all of the local manufacturing end of Quinn back with the old management. “Seán Quinn back has lifted the gloom here,” he says.
Empire
Frank and Kathleen McKiernan, who have run the gift shop in Ballyconnell for 50 years, agree. “We’ve known him well from when he was a gasún; without him you’d have nothing here,” says Frank.

A few miles across the Border in Derrylin the retired principal of St Aidan’s secondary school, Val Cassidy, observes how many of his former students ended up working for Quinn, from ground-floor jobs to senior management, including Kevin Lunney. Like many others he hopes Quinn will have his empire back.
“I would safely say that the minute he walked in through those doors at Christmas, the confidence in the whole area, in the whole company, lifted,” Cassidy says. “I’ve been out and about in the area talking to people, and their first words are, ‘Seán’s back.’”

McCartin believes the company can return profits of up to €25 million per annum, citing how in its heyday the overall Quinn company was making annual profits of €500 million.

The hope is that in three to five years’ time the local management will be able to buy the company from the US bondholders, who have the majority holding on the seven-person board of directors, and then refinance the company at local level.

McCartin, who may run for the Dáil in the next election, indicates that at that stage there could be another local buyout of the company. The wheel could turn full circle.

Seán Quinn would be 70 or 72 then. Could he really come back all the way?

“Who knows where any of us will be in five years’ time?” McCartin says. “But the reality is that in five or six years’ time, if this business is up for refinancing and if another local consortium is in a position to do it and wants to do it, and we are tired of it at that stage, then anything is possible.”