Why the Quinns are now the height of fashion

That photograph of Ms Lipsett was surrounded by fashion items that would allow you to “Get the Look”. In fact, the entire article was called “Get the Look: Avila Lipsett”. To this end you were advised to buy a Nicole Farhi jacket, a pair of Claire’s Accessories earrings and so on. The only name not mentioned was that of the Rostrevor nursing home in Rathgar, owned by Ms Lipsett’s family and closed by the health authorities in controversial circumstances.

Meanwhile, back on yesterday’s front page, the photograph of Peter Darragh Quinn in his peacoat and button-up shirt, and his father, Peter Quinn, in his dark knee-length coat and cap, appeared under a single-word headline. And that word was “Fugitive”.

Fugitive, eh? Fugitive from the nasty old sheriff. Fugitive from the chain gang. Fugitive from the forces of the crown. Perhaps one man’s fugitive has always been another man’s absconder, but what do I know, I’m from evil old Dublin 4 – I’m not, actually, but never mind.

On RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme yesterday Peter Darragh Quinn was publicly said to be “on the run” – a loaded phrase if ever there was one. Just as Seán Quinn snr has spoken about the banks wanting “to put the entire family out on the road”. It’s hard to remember that the Ewings, I mean the Quinns, have by their own calculation recently been reduced to millionaire rather than billionaire status. Seán Quinn snr told Mr Justice Peter Kelly that he was “a simple man”.

Everything about this story – except the scale of their fortune – says the Quinns are of and from ordinary rural Ireland. Strangely, their new celebrity is a weapon in the campaign to persuade the rest of us of this.