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 Feargal
Quinn is an independent member of Seanad
Éireann.
On his website he describes himself as
follows: “I'm a Dubliner, born in 1936. I
went to Newbridge College; I then did a
commerce degree in UCD. My wife Denise and I
live in north County Dublin and have five
grown-up children.
My first business experience was in my
father's holiday-camp at Red Island in
Skerries, Co Dublin. in 1960 I started a
small shop in Dundalk with just eight
colleagues. Our first Dublin shop at Finglas
came in 1965, and for the next 20 years we
concentrated on becoming a major player in
the Dublin area. By the time my family sold
out our interest in the company in 2005,
there were 21 shops and a team of over
5,000.
From the start Superquinn homed in on two
big things - food and customer service. Our
focus on food led to things like our own
bread, pizzas, and even sausages made right
in the shop, and to staffed meat, fish and
delicatessen counters rather than just
self-service.
Our focus on customer service brought
playhouses for customers' children,
feed-back groups where we listen to
customers, and a host of other innovations
for which in time we became famous all over
the retailing world. We were first in Europe
with a technology-based loyalty scheme,
SuperClub, technology we sold to companies
in other countries. We became partners in an
innovative online shopping venture Buy4now.
I wrote a book about my business philosophy,
"Crowning the Customer", which has sold like
Superquinn sausages in several countries.
I ran for the Seanad first in 1973 and I
believe passionately in the Seanad's role,
and give a lot of time to my duties there. I
was re-elected in 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2011.
In 1979 the Government asked me to be
chairman of what later became An Post, and I
spent 10 years helping to modernize that
service and launch the National Lottery.
Another exciting public service involvement
was chairing the steering committee for the
new Leaving Certificate Applied - it was a
privilege to take part in that revolution in
Irish education.
In 2006 I was appointed an Adjunct Professor
in Marketing at NUI Galway.
Senator Quinn is a well known TV personality
with such programmes as “Feargal Quinn’s
Retail Therapy” and more recently “Local
Heroes - A Town Fights Back”.
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