so let's talk about the queen country documentary that was on there earlier this week in three parts
the queen country documentary in case you don't know is a three-part documentary series at RTE
broadcast here during the week Monday Tuesday and Wednesday I think about John Quinn the
former owner and founder and operator and proprietor of Quinn cement and Quinn glass
and queen insurance and the slave Russell Hotel and various other hotels and pubs the program
was called Queen country and it looked into the rise and fall as it were of Sean Quinn and
I wasn't going to watch it in the first place because I felt it was going to put me in value or
bad humor because I'd seen the promos for it and Quinn was being interviewed in the promos
and I drew the conclusion that because Quinn was participating in it
and giving interviews freely that he would have seen it as an opportunity to put his side of the
story or set the record straight or whitewashed the whole situation depending on your view
for that reason I wasn't going to watch it however I did watch this and I was delighted that it did
firstly because it's a well-made series well made insofar as it's well shot camera work is good and
there's interviews with all the main players secondly there's interviews with financial
journalists and other observers and so on who would have had a fair insight into the goings-on
in relation to Quinn over the last many years since he lost control and his attempt
to be reinstated back in the business as it were as if nothing had happened
but for that reason I was happy that I watched it and then after one day I noticed online there in
the leads from Observer I think it was reported that Quinn was no longer supporting the program
so Quinn probably expected some sort of a white horse job or some sort of a tool with which to
perhaps minimize the damage to his reputation or at least Advance his argument his proposition
but after watching one episode he knew fairly quickly that the whole thing was going pear-shaped
he knew that it was Awards and all situation that the documentary maker was putting both sides
of the story and was reporting accurately from various observers and various accounts and various
voices not just Quinn's voice and not just Quinn's sister advice or Quinn's wife's voice voice
so after a day the nature Observer reported that the queen was no longer supporting the program and
quite frankly it looks like another spectacular gamble by Queen that's gone pear-shaped just
backfired because he gambled that this would be of help resistance to him and in fact it's now
gone and gone badly wrong for him because the reaction online and the reaction on Twitter and
so on uh has been pretty damning of Quinn second observation I'd make would be the
but the word there's two or three words that crop in or pop into my head having looked at
the program and having listened very carefully to the words of Sean Quinn and the interviews
and indeed with his wife the world is to pop into my head are hubris delusion and arrogance
hubris is a word that I think is stamped all over
Quinn and if you consider his wife's comments that the parish priests I
think father O'Reilly was a backstabber and she said it with quite a degree of vehements
he was a backstabber she said and he was out there killing in this house drinking wine and so on
father O'Reilly if that's his name I think it is denounced the violence that led to the criminal
assault on Kevin Looney and other violence that surrounded the campaign to have Queen reinstated
put the idea that a priest or indeed the idea that a person
would view another person as a backstabber for condemning that type of violence
is mind-boggling quite frankly mind-boggling the question of hubris then arises because it
transpires afterwards that Sean Queen actually wrote to the papal nuncio to complain about the
priest and the priest whether Quinn's letter or intervention had anything to do with it or
not was actually transferred afterwards maybe he chose to be transferred maybe he was transferred
anyway I don't know but the idea of writing to the paper nuncio to complain about a parish priest who
condemns condemns a violent attack from the altar is absolutely nonsensical it's absurd
the idea that a priest wouldn't condemn violence the idea that an Ordinary Decent
person wouldn't condemn the type of violence on Lonnie um is absurd it's fanciform
that's one observation the other observation I'd make would be this idea of Quinn that he seems to
have this idea fixed in his mind that because he built these businesses because he created the jobs
that somehow he's entitled to be reinstated that he's entitled to be put back in the driving seat
this idea that he can borrow a boatload of money from the banks not repay it and carry on as if
nothing happened and we're talking over 2 billion on a Gamble the idea that you can be reinstated
into some business in those circumstances again is absolutely absurd it's like some fella borrowing a
fuel Bob to set up a Christmas story below and Mullingar gets 20 grand off the bank
he's all able to pay it and is then clearing somehow or other the bank can't move against
them can't look for the money back uh can't act on the photo of their security
absolute nonsense it struck me that Quinn gambled everything on angle Irish Bank
prices raising and they fell and the cfds were spectacular and they gambled it back very badly
put any Gambler nose or anybody who participates in anything whether it's business or sport or
anything else knows tough when you lose you lose when it's over it's over and Quinn gambled and
lost on a better farm and lost and he somehow or other doesn't seem to be able to accept that
he seems to think that he has some sort of an entitlement to be reinstated in former companies
that he set up and jobs he created and so forth that's you know clearly an illogical position
stories have come out afterwards that the queen appeared to be fond of a gamble as well
fond of a punt and um I read a story there the other day online or in the newspaper
about him having a dispute many many years ago with a man over the price of something some
contractor other and I think he brought your man to the pub and they called for a deck of
cards and they decided this bill the price of the contract on the basis of who drew the highest card
so if that was his attitude Maybe Queen had uh propensity to gamble but certainly he did
remarkably well to start the business that he started he did remarkably well to create the
jobs that he created especially in the location in the part of the country where he did it but
the fact of the matter is and it's a very simple proposition he bet the farm he bet everything
on annual prices anglo-irish Bank prices and lost the other thing I would say about it would be that
he said many times in the course of the documentary that the most profitable business
was Quinn insurance and Quinn insurance was throwing off 200 million pounds in profit a year
the problem with Queen insurance and the regulator got involved with credit insurance
is because Queen insurance was under financed the Washington sufficient reserves put by
it's an insurance company remember and they reckoned that the inadequacy or deficiency
in the reserves was about 200 million so it's actually arguable that the prophets that Quinn
was claiming for Quinn Insurance the 200 million a year were actually illusory and false prophets
because it wasn't sufficient reserves there wasn't sufficient resources put by to deal with claims as
they failed you and ultimately that's what did for and why the regulator put in or instructed
that somebody go into Quinn insurance and take it over because it was inadequately financed and the
fact of the matter is we're all paying for quit Insurance still with our motor car insurance and
indeed with the universal social charge that we're all paying so Queen did really really well started
fantastic businesses started what appeared to be fantastic put bet everything on angular Bank
prices rising and they fell and contracts for difference are a financial instrument that is
essentially a gamble on a share price when it goes wrong it goes wrong and there's a call going to
be put on you if you're the holder of the cfds and you simply run out of cash very very quickly
so nighttime is a good program glad I watched it in terms of the his legacy clearly he started many
businesses and was very successful he created great jobs and great employment and so on
in the area but ultimately he gambled it all in last time sad situation very sad as
I say Quinn's Legacy will be that he built all these businesses created a huge amount of jobs
but gambled the whole lot better for him and lost and that's about how it was what's your
comments or what's your view on the situation did you watch the program leave them down below there
I'd be interested to see what you thought of us and obviously they're just some observations
off the top of my head that I'm recalling April three-parter obviously was long enough