Seán Quinn pictured at the launch of his book at the Slieve Russell Hotel, Co Cavan. Photograph: Andrew Paton

The chief archaeologist at the time, Peter Danaher, agreed and his staff supervised as Quinn had the tomb excavated, moved and reconstructed, under the supervision of archaeologist John Channing, at the Slieve Russell Hotel. Indeed, Mr Danahar said the move was ‘a reasonably good result’. He admitted to The Anglo-Celt that he would have preferred it not be moved at all, ‘but in the circumstances, it is in as good a place as any’. They will continue to do so for the next two decades to cover the massive losses run up by Quinn Insurance. The priest, who has read Quinn’s new book In My Own Words, claimed its contents are “highly selective”. Outwardly Quinn was King Cash and deemed by the Sunday Times Rich List to be the 164th richest man in the world. He still put himself across as “Citizen Sean” — while owning a €15m private jet.The former tycoon (75) claims he is correcting some of the falsehoods that have been propagated against him in the years since the crash. He believed the businessman had not received fair play and said he was a humble man and it was wrong to suggest greed brought him down. “I remember him baling hay with a tractor. Seán Quinn was never greedy. He is a scapegoat,” said Mr Maguire. Thomas Maguire “a neighbour from Teemore” said he was glad that the book was out. “It is great to see him getting the truth out”.

Ninety per cent of what’s in the book is factual, if they want to leave out my opinion that’s fine, but the rest can’t be argued with, it’s based on court documents, Central Bank figures, and administrator figures. If they want to leave out my view that’s fine, but then they can just read the facts.” Why did his empire collapse so suddenly, and disastrously? The Quinn businesses had invested heavily in ‘contracts for difference’ (CFDs) in Anglo-Irish Bank, a blue-chip company. The failure of the Irish banking system in 2008 eventually led to Quinn’s losses of €3 billion, and to the demise of his business empire, devastating Quinn, his family, and his local community. Dee Forbes has resigned as a director of the Dublin International Piano Competition – in the first indication that the former director general of RTÉ may be planning to, ahem, scale down her involvement in civil life. Forbes left RTÉ at the height of the Ryan Tubridy pay controversy, and did not attend any of the subsequent Oireachtas hearings, citing ill health. A change of directorship at the triennial piano competition, whose patron is President Michael D Higgins, was notified to the companies office on August 28th.Last night as he signed copies of his book and shook hands with those who queued to greet him, the man who told Newstalk this week that the hadn’t the price of a bag of spuds seemed right at home. Another local, no admirer of Quinn, said he had shown his “true colours” with his comments about Kevin Lunney. In the early years of the twenty-first century, Seán Quinn was considered to be Ireland’s richest man, with a Midas touch: everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. His company owned Ireland’s only glass producers, and one of its biggest insurance companies. The Quinn Group built the Slieve Russell, one of Ireland’s premier hotels, and owned one of Britain’s most prestigious golf resorts, The Belfry, as well as a number of pubs, hotels, office complexes and shopping centres across Europe and Asia. Asked if he has any regrets over his time in business, Sean isn’t hesitant to outline things he would do differently if he had the chance to do it again.

Tears roll down the face of Seán Quinn, with his wife Patricia, as his daughter Ciara speaks on behalf of the family at a 2012 rally to show support for the Quinn family, attended by up to 10,000 people in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan. Photograph: Alan Betson The man, a Ballyconnell native who has known Quinn all his life, and who believed the businessman “shot himself in the foot” in the documentary, was surprised by the “nastiness” of the comments directed at the priest. While Seán Quinn publicly apologised to the Sunday Independent journalist Maeve Sheehan for his treatment of her during an interview in advance of his book launch, during Thursday night’s event his solicitor Mr McGettigan accused Ms Sheehan of trying to make the book about herself. He made the remark after a swipe at journalists in general. Mr Quinn had told Ms Sheehan during her interview with him that she was “just talking s***”. But Mr Quinn told the Fermanagh Herald this week: “I lost my rag and I apologise for it”. He said he had been irritated “but I was wrong. I should have had better wit”.His gamble on Anglo — the world’s most toxic bank — not only led to the destruction of his own business empire but cost the Irish taxpayer billions of euro.