Sean quinn was discriminated against

Former billionaire businessman Sean Quinn says he was discriminated against in a sectarian manner when seeking permission to set up business in the 1980s.

The claim was brought to light in files released in Belfast by the Public Records Office, which includes correspondence from Mr Quinn in which he seeks support for the cement plant on the Border. When the Industrial Development Board would not give more than 20 per cent - £3.37M - of the expected cost, he wrote to the Ulster Unionist leader, James Molyneaux, but to no avail.

The Irish Times reports this morning that the board took the view that the Quinn Group at the time 'revolves around the personality and drive' of Mr Quinn and that if anything happened to him that the consequences could be serious for the project.

In a statement on the Catholic businessman the board, incredibly, concludes: 'His death or incapacity during the construction phase could be extremely serious.'

The Derrylin man then wrote to former SDLP leader John Hume in 1985 saying that he had been 'discriminated' against. The plant, of course, eventually went ahead after a grant was finally delivered but it is not disclosed in the files what the nature or amount of the grant was.