Feargal Quinn
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Feargal Quinn (27 November 1936 – 24 April 2019) was an Irish businessman, politician and television personality. He founded the Superquinn supermarket chain and served as a
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
for the
National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highe ...
constituency from 1993 to 2016.


Early and personal life

Quinn was born in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
in 1936. His father, Eamonn, founded a grocery brand, and later the Red Island resort in Skerries. He was a first cousin of Labour Party politician Ruairi Quinn and of Lochlann Quinn, former chairman of
Allied Irish Banks Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four (banking)#Ireland, Big Four commercial banks in the Republic of Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of ge ...
(AIB). Quinn was educated at Holy Faith Secondary School, Clontarf, then with a mixed junior school, and Newbridge College, and was a commerce graduate of
University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
. He was married to Denise, daughter of Ned and Grace Prendergast, and they had five children. He lived in the Baily area of
Howth Howth ( ; ; ) is a peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes the ...
near Dublin, near the former head office of the Superquinn chain at
Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...
.


Business and public sector career

Quinn built a career in business and later took on a range of public service roles.


Supermarkets

Quinn founded the national supermarket chain, Superquinn (originally Quinn's Supermarkets), in Dundalk in 1960. As chairman of the company, he developed a reputation for having a high level of customer service compared to other supermarkets, and wrote a manual on customer service, "Crowning the Customer". He introduced a number of innovations to the Irish supermarket sector, including Ireland's first supermarket
loyalty card A loyalty program or rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program. Single-company vs. coalition programs Loyalty prog ...
in 1993, SuperClub (rebranded in 2007 as Reward Card). On 26 August 2005, Superquinn was sold for around €450 million to a consortium called Select Retail Holdings, which had been formed in 2002. In the following years, it transpired that the company faced multiple market challenges as its shops had aged, competition had grown, and it lacked centralised distribution; Quinn was replaced as chairman but remained as non-executive President. On 18 July 2011, it was announced that receivers had been appointed to the business. The following day, it was reported that the business had been sold to Musgrave Group for just over €100 million. All Superquinn shops were rebranded to SuperValu in 2014.


Public sector work

Quinn became the chairman of the ''Interim Board for Posts'' and served as chairman of its successor
An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of Mail, postal services in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provide ...
(the State-owned Irish postal administration) until 1989. He also served on several other public authorities and boards. From 1993 to 1998, he chaired the steering committee which oversaw the development of the Leaving Certificate Applied. In 2006, he was appointed an adjunct professor in marketing at NUI, Galway. He was also chairman of Springboard Ireland.


Business groups

He was a sometime former President of EuroCommerce, the Brussels-based organisation which represents the retail, wholesale and international trade sectors in Europe. He also served on the board of directors of CIES – the Food Business Forum based in Paris as well as the American-based Food Marketing Institute.


Television work

In 2009, he worked with independent shops and helped them to revamp, modernise and stave off stiff competition from multi-national retailers. It aired as
RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...
's six-part television series, ''Feargal Quinn's Retail Therapy''. A second series aired in 2011, and a third series aired in 2012. In 2011, he fronted RTÉ's Local Heroes campaign in
Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...
,
County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...
which an assembled team of experts to kick-start the local economy. It aired as RTÉ 1's six-part television series, ''Local Heroes – A Town Fights Back''.


Political career

Quinn was first elected as a senator in 1993 from the National University constituency and was re-elected in 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2011. He was a member of the Joint
Oireachtas The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...
Committee on European Affairs, the Joint Committee on Finance and Public Service and was an Oireachtas member of the National Economic and Social Forum, along with the Joint Committee on Jobs and Innovation. During his time in Seanad Éireann he tabled many amendments to government Bills and introduced 17 Private Members Bills. The most successful of those was the Construction Contracts Bill 2010 – to protect building sub-contractors which was enacted as the ''Construction Contracts Act 2013'' and was brought into force on 23 July 2016. The proposals contained in several of his other Bills were implemented; for example, in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship and Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2003, Quinn sought to bring an end to the 'passports for sale' scheme. The following year, Quinn's proposal was enacted in the form of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004. A further example relates to the Social Welfare and Pensions (Amendment) Bill 2014 – a Senator Quinn Bill which sought to remove from Irish Water, the power to require its customers to provide their PPS numbers to the entity. Following the publication of the Bill, the Government announced that it had decided to "discontinue" the requirement for Irish Water customers to produce their PPS number. The Government subsequently amended the law to mirror Quinn's proposal. Quinn was one of the co-founders and was a driving force behind Democracy Matters – a civil society group that was formed to oppose the Government's plans to abolish Seanad Éireann. In May 2013, with Senators Katherine Zappone and Mary Ann O'Brien, he introduced the Seanad Bill 2013 to reform the system of electing the elected members of Seanad Éireann (as provided for in Article 18.10 of the
Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland (, ) is the constitution, fundamental law of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. It guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected non-executi ...
) through a one-person, one vote franchise. The Seanad Bill 2013 succeeded in being passed at Second Stage in the Seanad. During the Seanad abolition referendum campaign, the Bill demonstrated to the electorate, in a very palpable way, that reform of the Seanad was achievable if they voted for its retention. In a referendum held in October 2013 on the Abolition of Seanad Éireann, the people voted to retain the Seanad by 51.7%. In 2014, Quinn revealed that since being first elected to Seanad Éireann, he had donated his entire salary to charity and in more recent years he had refused to accept any salary. In March 2015, he opposed the Marriage Equality bill in the Seanad, and voted 'No' in the referendum. He was Chairman of the Independent Alliance. He did not contest the 2016 Seanad election.


Publications

Quinn wrote ''Crowning the Customer'' (O'Brien Press, 1990), which has been translated into many languages, as well as ''Mind Your Own Business'' (O'Brien Press, 2013). In 2016, he published his memoirs, entitled "Quinnessential Feargal" (O'Brien Press 2016).


Recognition

Quinn was the recipient of five
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
s from education institutions (including
NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...
in 2006), a papal knighthood along with a fellowship and the French
Ordre National du Mérite The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...
. He shared with
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
the 2006 "Listener of the Year" award of the International Listening Association.


See also

* Families in the Oireachtas


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Feargal 1936 births 2019 deaths Alumni of University College Dublin Burials at St. Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton Businesspeople from Dublin (city) Independent members of Seanad Éireann Irish grocers Television personalities from Dublin (city) Members of Seanad Éireann for the National University of Ireland Members of the 20th Seanad Members of the 21st Seanad Members of the 22nd Seanad Members of the 23rd Seanad Members of the 24th Seanad People educated at Newbridge College People from Howth Politicians from County Dublin Recipients of the Ordre national du Mérite Irish businesspeople in retailing 20th-century Irish businesspeople