On Monday, signs appeared by roadsides along the Feramangh/Cavan border warning QIHL executives to “remove the UDA and UVF off our mountain or face the gun.”

The signs come just one month after a cross-border investigation was launched into threats against some of the executives, and after a letter containing three bullets was sent to workers at the Slieve Rushen windfarm, a former Quinn Group property now owned by Danish company Vestas. The letter warned the workers to stay away “or face the bullet.” 

Yesterday Mr Quinn issued a statement in which he branded the signs, which have since been removed,  as “unacceptable.”

“The abusive and threatening signs that have been illegally erected in recent days by third parties on  property owned by Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited, QIHL, are offensive and unacceptable,” said the Teemore man. “They are in nobody’s interest, and are certainly not in the interests of me and my family.  Whilst I appreciate that the local community is very hurt, I believe that the comments on the signs in question are totally unacceptable.”

Explaining how he and his son had removed similar signs several months ago, the former billionaire also called on the windfarm owners, who he said were “riding rough-shot” over the local farming community to “do more to address the unease and tension in the area,” adding the QIHL management and the US investors in the company “also need to be mindful of the rights of the local farmers.”

Repeating his condemnation of the threats, Mr Quinn said he was “but one voice” and called others in the community to “play their part” in bringing calm to the situation also.