The quiet billionaire who always puts family first
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SEAN Quinn left school at the age of 15 but that didn't stop him from becoming Ireland's richest man.
He first made his mark in the early 1970s as captain of the Fermanagh Gaelic football team. This gave him a network of GAA contacts throughout the island, which he put to good use in the years to come.
At the age of 26 he realised the family's 23-acre dairy farm in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, was sitting on what would become his own personal goldmine -- huge reserves of sand, gravel and shale.
He began to quarry in 1973 with just one lorry delivering sand and gravel.
Although there were other quarry businesses in competition, he soon surpassed them and began building his multi-billion euro empire.
However, what began the transformation of the 'Mighty Quinn' from successful local entrepreneur to international business star was his decision to build his own cement factory in the late 1980s.
Derided
Although derided at the time, his timing turned out to be impeccable. He caught the post-1993 construction boom perfectly, meaning there was more than enough demand for both Quinn and his largest rival, CRH.
In 1998, he spent £100m (€152m) on a new state-of-the-art glass manufacturing plant across the road from the concrete plant. It was so successful that its only rival on the island of Ireland, Irish Glass Bottle's Ringsend plant, closed down just four years later. A second glass factory in Cheshire, England, followed suit in 2003.
He then took the plunge in the motor insurance business by setting up Quinn-Direct.
However, teething problems and a combination of soaring claims costs and plunging share prices saw the company record losses of almost €49m in 2001, with the parent company forced to inject almost €70m into it in 2000 and 2001.
Some believed he had finally lost his midas touch -- but profits hit €232m in 2005 and the company had positioned itself as the third largest insurance company in the country.
In between, he found the time to build the Slieve Russell hotel in Cavan as well as buying the Hilton Hotel in Prague and a shopping centre in the Ukranian capital Kiev. He also took over BUPA healthcare when it threatened to pull out of the country, and rebranded it as Quinn Healthcare.
He bought the prestigious Belfry golf course in the English West Midlands in 2005.
And he has bought and sold a number of pubs, using one golden rule -- never buy a bar with a large car park as the crackdown on drink driving will eat into profits.
Now based in a brand new home in Cavan, just around the corner from the Slieve Russell Hotel, the 61-year-old now heads up the largest and most profitable private company in Ireland which employs around 6,000 people.
In a rare interview last year for the RTE show 'Ireland's Top Earners', the billionaire said he didn't care about all his riches; only about his family.
Significant
He is married to Patricia and they have a son and four daughters, three of whom are involved in the family business. His brother Peter also plays a significant role in the business.
"The most important thing to me is family," he said.
"I take great pride creating something here in this local area. The Fermanagh-Cavan-Leitrim area has been very poor for the last 100 years."
He is also notoriously private and this was evident at the marriage of his daughter Ciara and solicitor Niall McPartland last year. They tied the knot in Drumlane parish, just outside Belturbet, but prying eyes were kept away.
In the same RTE interview, the billionaire claimed his tastes were "very simple" and revealed he celebrated his incredible success by going for a game of cards every Tuesday where he played 50 cents a game for 10 games.
His only extravagance is a $24m (€15m) private jet -- which the chefs from the Slieve Russell Hotel regularly stock with food -- and a helicopter. However, he has been known to lend his helicopter to locals in times of need.
Today, Sean Quinn's mark is evident across the counties of Cavan and Fermanagh. He remained loyal to the area, setting up many of his businesses in the locality. Quinn Insurance has offices in Cavan and Enniskillen, while his business empire snakes along the border roads for several miles.
- Edel Kennedy
