Bankrupt billionaire Sean Quinnbroke down in tears at the latest rally in support of his family, just days before he faces a High Court appearance.

An emotional Quinn heard speakers support his battle with the banks at the meeting which was attended by 5,000 supporters in the Cavan town of Ballyconnell.

Once Ireland’s richest man, Quinn faces the threat of jail when he appears before Dublin’s High Court for a contempt hearing on Friday.

Quinn and his wife Patricia broke down in tears when local priest Fr Gerry Comiskey said prayers for their son Sean Jnr, already in Mountjoy jail on similar charges.

Fr Comiskey also read a poem for Sean Jr while Tyrone GAA boss Mickey Harte told the crowd he is steadfast in his support for the Quinn family.

They also heard their daughter Ciara and Sean’s brother Peter, the former GAA president, vow to win the ‘war’ with the former Anglo Irish Bank.

Peter Quinn told the big crowd: “Neither Anglo nor the media will break the Quinn resolve, neither Elderfield or Dukes, nor Kenny or Noonan or any of the other b******s in Dáil Éireann, or ever break the Quinns’ spirit.”

Ciara Quinn told supporters: “The Quinn family will rise again, continue to fight and not go quietly into the night.

“My name is Ciara Quinn and I, alongside my bother Seán and my three sisters, Colette, Aoife and Brenda, are the true and rightful owners of the Quinn group of companies.

“In 2007 and 2008 Anglo Irish Bank pumped €2.3 billion into our companies without asking us, without telling us and without ever even meeting us – this was illegal.

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“We are innocent parties to this and “we will not be Anglo’s scapegoats.

“We built over 200 companies and we employed tens of thousands of people I would like to thank everyone for that.”

Ciara Quinn added: “I would like to say to everyone here no member of my family touched any asset that Anglo had legitimate borrowing or security on.

“The assets you are all reading about in the papers are assets that Anglo never lent any money to, which they have no valid security on.

“We will prove this in our main case and we say that Anglo will have to explain to you, the Irish taxpayers, why they spent tens of millions chasing assets that they had no legitimate claim to.

“We were a very private, hard-working family who never courted media attention and our lives have been torn apart, as has our life’s work, and lies have been written about us continuously, selective leaking of information by the bank to the media.

“Anglo is spending millions of taxpayers’ money on a vicious PR campaign against us and as we all know a paper never refuses ink.”

Ciara’s sister Colette Quinn told The Irish Times: “We’re very happy with the turn out and we’re delighted at the support we continue to get from the area and we really appreciate it.”