FORMER GAA president Peter Quinn has spoken of his pride in the achievements of his businessman brother Sean.
In an interview with The Irish News he also placed the blame for the collapse of the Quinn business empire at the door of Anglo Irish Bank.
At one time Sean Quinn was the wealthiest man in Ireland, with an estimated fortune of £3bn, and employed around 8,000 people from his base on the Cavan Fermanagh border.
Mr Quinn lost control of his business empire in 2011 following a disastrous investment in Anglo-Irish Bank.
He later returned to Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) as a consultant after some of the businesses went back into local management, but left again in 2016 after a breakdown in relationships.
The protracted saga continues to divide opinion along the border and further afield.
Speaking to the Irish News Mr Quinn spoke with pride about his younger brother.
“I was very proud of what he achieved and if it hadn’t been for Anglo-Irish Bank he’d still be there," he said.
"That was a call he made and it backfired.
"In business if you make a bad call it always backfires, in most cases it’s not that negative, in his case it was very negative."
Mr Quinn believes that more jobs could have been saved during the Quinn collapse.
“Nobody could have forseen it and what annoyed me, and I’d say it annoys him, is that jobs that could have been saved in Fermanagh weren’t saved," he said.
"The construction part is still going okay but other jobs were lost.
“The jobs in quarrying and concrete products were saved, Sean doesn’t have control over them but they’ve been saved.
"A couple of thousand people are working there and I wouldn’t like to see the Quinn Group collapsing and the effect it would have on the economy in Fermanagh and Cavan. It would be devastating.”
He also said that his family has left the past behind and that his brother now has new business interests, albeit on a smaller scale.
“The Quinn family has moved on and now have another business," he said.
"The same as the previous business, Sean brought other parts of the family into that business and he’s doing on a much smaller scale what he always did in terms of family.
“He can’t bring the community in like he did before by offering jobs on the same scale."
He said that although brothers he and Sean have different traits but believes they will be remembered as good employers in the area.
“We are very different in some ways," he said.
"I’d be more academic, he is more practical than I am.
"We come from the same roots so there is inevitably a degree of commonality in the way we go about things.
“I think if you asked the people who worked for myself or Sean, I think almost every one of them would say we were good employers."
