EXCLUSIVE | 

Former executive who Sean Quinn said he ‘would rather see beaten up’ assisting in gardai probe

John McCartin has endured a horrific campaign of intimidation and threats in the wake of Quinn losing control of his companies

Yesterday at 14:20

One of two former Quinn executives who Sean Quinn said he “would rather see beaten up” has confirmed he and his fellow directors are assisting gardai as they probe the former billionaire’s comments.

John McCartin, who has endured a horrific campaign of intimidation and threats in the wake of Quinn losing control of his companies, told us: “We have faith in the gardai.

“And we will help in any way we can.”

The garda investigation into the comments made by Quinn on Newstalk last week is focused on establishing if his words crossed the threshold of ‘incitement to violence,’ a source said.

The inquiry was launched after Quinn, in an interview with Kieran Cuddihy, said he would have rather see two other directors at his former company beaten up instead of Kevin Lunney, who was abducted and tortured in 2019.

In the interview with The Hard Shoulder, Mr Quinn denied that he was involved in the kidnapping and torture of Kevin Lunney in 2019.

He said if he was involved, he would not have chosen to abduct Kevin Lunney.

“Certainly, if Sean Quinn wanted somebody to be kidnapped in Derrylin — and it’s something that would never, ever cross my mind, or anybody that belonged to me — the Quinns are not that type of people,” he said.

“But if we did feel that somebody should be beaten up or whatever it might be, it certainly wouldn’t be Kevin Lunney.

“It’d be people at a higher level than Kevin Lunney.

“If you’re asking me if I would rather see Liam McCaffrey or John McCartin beaten up, the answer is yes.”

Gardai in Cavan and Monaghan later launched a probe into the comments to examine whether they could be construed as inciting violence against the men by Quinn supporters.

As part of the probe, both Mr McCartin and Mr McCaffrey were interviewed by members of a specialist team based in Cavan and Monaghan who are involved in an ongoing investigation to identify the so-called paymaster behind the abduction and torture of Kevin Lunney.

Mr Lunney and his fellow former Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) colleagues, Mr McCaffrey and Mr McCartin, are currently senior executives in Mannok Holdings, a company under which a number of the former Quinn businesses now operate.

The violent campaign was organised by the now-deceased criminal Cyril ‘Dublin Jimmy’ McGuinness.

Gardai believe he organised the abduction of Mr Lunney close to his home in Derrylin, south Fermanagh, in 2019.

Mr Lunney was tortured before being released with very serious injuries, but survived.

A number of men were later convicted for their roles in the abduction but the Mannok executives have always believed a more senior figure, dubbed “The Paymaster”, had effectively orchestrated or funded the campaign of intimidation and violence.

The two Mannok directors named by Mr Quinn in the Newstalk interview, along with Kevin Lunney, his brother Tony and Dara O’Reilly, are still classified by police as being at risk of attack from individuals determined to restore the former billionaire to his throne.

Sean Quinn has denied he is the paymaster and, in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph published on Monday, said he doesn’t believe such a person even exists.

“There is no paymaster,” he said. “I don’t know where this idea came from, I genuinely don’t,” he said.