QUINN 2nd ANNIVERSARY ‘CAMPAIGN REVIEW’ A GREAT SUCCESS

The second anniversary mass for murder victim Paul Quinn was held in St Patrick’s Cullyhanna on Friday evening past. Paul Quinn was murdered on October the 20th, 2007 after being lured to a cattle shed near Oram in Co. Monaghan where he was battered to death by a gang of masked men. The family have consistently blamed the IRA for his murder.

Paul Quinn’s parents, Stephen and Breege, told 'The Paul Quinn Blog' that they were very pleased to see such a large turn out to the mass and they expressed their thanks to Fr McGuckian for the mass and his homily in which he said “It is written large in all the Gospels, in the parables and sermons of Jesus, ‘Treat others as you would like them to treat you.’ That’s the way Jesus wants us to be, side by side and face to face with masks removed.” They also thanked Martin McAllister and Dervla McCoy for ‘the beautiful music and singing and thanked ‘all those who came to mass in Paul’s memory.’


After mass, refreshments were served in Cullyhanna Community centre where an exhibition of newspaper clippings, quotations from politicians and police along with a power point presentation of T.V programmes were shown. At least 200 people came to the community centre where the evening was informal without any speeches and with people mingling together, discussing the murder and the future they long for, ‘without masks.’ Among the attendance were Dr. Rory O’Hanlon, F.F. T.D Cavan Monaghan, Margret Conlon FF TD Cavan Monaghan, Seymour Crawford, F.G. T.D. Cavan Monaghan, Dominic Bradley , MLA, Newry and Armagh and Geraldine Donnelly, Councillor, N&M.D.C. Councillors Sean McCooey and Brendan Hughes from Castleblaney and Padraig McNally Carrickmacross. Also Liz McManus, T.D. Labour, along with Alasdair McDonnell, M.P. SDLP contacted the family earlier in the evening as they were unable to attend.

Mr and Mrs Quinn also thanked the Quinn Support Group for their work in setting up the media display ‘in particular Paul McCooey for all his work on the printed materials and the Audio Visual presentation.’ They also thanked Mona McEntee for her catering, described as ‘excellent as always.’

Paul’s parents finished by telling 'The Paul Quinn Blog' that ‘Our life is now a search for justice and we will continue that search. Our recent meeting with Judith Gillespie, deputy chief constable of the PSNI and our regular meetings with the Gardai convince us that justice will prevail and, as always, we ask people to remember that any little snippet of news about the day of the murder, or after, may hold the key the Gardai need so please come forward even if you think it may be unimportant, let the police decide that.’

Paul Quinn 1986-2007.......Murdered this day two years ago.

Paul it was not God's plan that you should die,
It was the plan of those who murdered you so savagely,
We have loving memories of you Paul,
They have memories of murdering you,
We've cried millions of tears Paul,
And we'll cry millions more,
Until the day we meet again,
Then we'll cry no more,
Our lives have changed forever,
Our hearts are broke in two,
Our thoughts never leave that shed where they murdered you,
Rest in peace Paul, we love and miss you so much.

Breege and Stephen Quinn

The 'Justice For Paul' Campaign Review

Firstly I'd like to thank everyone who attended our fund-raising evening in the Cross Square Hotel. The evening was a resounding success with nearly £4000 being raised. In addition many local people and businesses donated prizes to which we raffled off to the packed crowd.
Once again thank you all.

The second anniversary of Paul Quinn's Murder is quickly approaching. In addition to the Anniversary Mass being held in St.Patrick's Church, Cullyhanna, we, the Quinn Support Group are holding the 'Justice For Paul Campaign Review'.
The campaign review will be held in the Cullyhanna Parish Rooms after the Anniversary Mass on
Friday, October 23th 2009.
The review will comprise of a history of the Group, our aims, our background, and will exhibit press clippings, articles, and journal entries of coverage over the past two years.

Everyone is welcome and some refreshments will be served.

Letter of Thanks from Stephen and Breege Quinn

We, the parents of Paul Quinn want to sincerely thank all those who helped make our recent fundraiser on behalf of the Quinn Support Group a resounding success. The function held in The Cross Square Hotel was very well attended and enjoyed by all. Young and old were there from throughout the area which was heart-warming for our family and for our support group. Our intention was, not only to raise some money for our campaign, but to bring together some of the many people who agree with us, wish us well and wish to help in some way.

To date the function has raised over £2,000 and over €2,000 and there are still some ticket returns to come. All the money made will be used for our Support Groups expenditure which to now has consisted mainly of buying leaflets and placing adverts along with poster campaigns.

Firstly we thank all those who attended and those who bought tickets but could not attend. We thank the group, Temptations, who were excellent, made everything go with a swing and gave their night voluntarily. The Cross Square Hotel Management and staff deserve thanks also for their service and co operation. Our thanks also to Dominic Bradley MLA, Geraldine Donnelly,SDLP Councilor, Margret Conlon TD and Sean McCooey, Fianna Fail Councilor for their support. Special thanks also to all those who gave prizes for our raffle or donations,

• The Lord Mayor of Newry and Mourne, John Feehan;
  
• The Lord Mayor of Armagh City and District, Thomas O’Hanlon;
  
• The Spar Shop, Cross’;
  
• Day to Day, Cross’;
  
• Crosby Butchers, Cross’;
• Murphy’s Chemist (Caroline) Cross’;
• Elish Quinn, Cross’;
• Ann Nolan’s Celtic Shop, Cross’;
• Supervalu, Cross’;
• James Gregory, Cross’;
  
• The Murtagh Family, Corliss;
• Watters Electrical, Cullaville;
  
• Kizell Hairdressers and Barbers, Newtownhamilton;
  
• The Glen Cairn Hotel, Castleblaney;
  
• Brendan and Ann McCooey, Drumlougher;
  
• Mickey and Marie Rice, Kiltybane’

Finally, as a family, we also want to thank our group members and supporters who went out and sold the tickets and have been working with us all along. Paul’s anniversary is fast approaching and we continue to seek justice for him. Justice is all we want and all your help will assist us in that. Our heartfelt thanks and prayers are with you all.

Stephen and Breege Quinn.

Quinn Support Fundraising Evening

The Quinn Support Group is holding a Fund raising Evening on Friday the 18th of September in the Cross Square Hotel, Crossmaglen at 9pm. Music on the night will be provided by Temptations. Tickets are on sale now and admission on the night costs €10.

For more information email info@quinnsupport.org

WELCOME

A warm welcome to this blog which, hopefully, will be useful in the search for justice for the Quinn family.
It is good to see that the Gardai are working away on the case. The murder gang will always interpret quiet periods as a sign that the investigation is bogged down and an arrest like this will concern them. It would be interesting to know how the gardai knew this particular man was in their area; There are whispers, but I must stress they are only whispers, of someone, purportedly a friend of his, phoning the gardai.
South Armagh is a worse place to live now in many ways than it was during the 30 years of shooting and bombing. At that time local people were not afraid of their neighbours but now they are. We have lots of thugs and bullies who appear able to operate freely. Our councillors shout to the high heavens about affrays when nobody connected to them is involved but are strangely silent about most affrays because their friends and members are involved. It is, of course, Sinn Féin councillors I refer to as they have 4 out of 5 seats in the Slieve Gullion area which runs from Killeen to Culloville. Likewise with the district policing partnership on which they are the majority and which they use for party political advantage rather than to make policing accountable. I am not saying that this is what is happening all over the 6 counties as I can only speak about my own area. Likewise, I am in no way anti republican being a republican myself, I am simply anti anyone who uses their position to protect murderers.
What I want to see is justice for the Quinn family and a sth Armagh where the young people, and the older as well, can go out and about day or night without being afraid of being attacked.

Quinns Respond To Latest Arrest

In a statement to The Examiner the parents of murdered man Paul Quinn have expressed satisfaction at the latest proof the Gardai are still actively pursuing those who murdered their son. Responding to the arrest in co Monaghan of a man from the Cullyhanna area Stephen and Breege Quinn told The Examiner "It does us good to see public proof of what we already know, that the Gardai and the PSNI" are working away on the case all the time. Sometimes when things are quiet people get the idea that everything has stopped but the Gardai have assured us time and time again that it will not stop , that the case will not go away until the culprits are charged.

They also tell us that little bits of information are still coming in and that no matter how small this is very important." The Quinns also told The Examiner that they received a lot of calls from politicians and the general public on both sides of the border welcoming the latest arrest. Stephen Quinn said, "All sorts of people contacted us, probably all parties, all Nationalist parties anyhow except one, the party of our M.P. doesn't seem to place much importance on this investigation but we knew that anyhow so we were no way disappointed".

Mr and Mrs Quinn finished by saying that they were pledged, along with their support group, to carry on the campaign for justice until it is achieved and again thanked "all the lovely people who have been so supportive whether privately or publicly."

The Murder of Paul Quinn

On the afternoon of Saturday 20th October 2007, Paul Quinn of Cullyhanna got a phone message that work was available across the border clearing a shed to make it ready for cattle. The message was sent by two young men known to him who had been kidnapped in Oram, Co. Monaghan and forced to make the call. Paul brought another young man from Cullyhanna to help him and drove to the cattle shed.

There he was systematically beaten with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels by a group of 9-12 men dressed in boiler suits and surgical gloves. They operated within a clear command system and as they beat him they told him that now he knew who were the bosses in the area. Before they left the scene they sprayed the area with an unknown chemical.

They also injured the three other young men and smashed their mobile phones. However, one phone remained operational and the young men called Paul’s girlfriend and asked her to call an ambulance. He was taken from the shed around 6pm and he died in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, around 8pm.

Mr Quinn's family issued a short statement saying he had recently been involved in altercations with individual members of the Provisional IRA, which had issued an exiling order through an innocent intermediary: "Our son courageously and correctly refused to leave. We believe he was abducted by the Provisional movement and brutally beaten to death."