THE son of former billionaire Sean Quinn has revealed that he was "lonely" and "frightened" in prison.

Sean Quinn Jnr (33) was sentenced to three months for contempt of court by Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne in July.

It centred on his involvement in a controversial $500,000 payment to Larissa Puga, general director of Quinn Properties Ukraine, on the eve of the company's takeover by the IBRC.

He was released last month after spending his time in the training unit of Mountjoy Prison.

In an interview with Ryan Tubridy on 'The Late Late Show', Mr Quinn Jnr described his experience in the unit.

"It was difficult. It was certainly at times could be very lonely. You've lost your liberty," he said.

"I remember coming from the court in the 'dog box' and I remember thinking I'm just going to have to get through it and I coped with it reasonably well."

He added: "It was (humbling), there was so many different emotions.

"It was surreal, there was a period when you were arrested and brought in a van and it was frightening."

Mr Quinn Jnr admitted that he put himself in the position and said it was something he had to live with.

And he admitted that assets had been moved in March and April which "certainly had a negative impact".

Mr Quinn Jnr also spoke about his concern for his father – who was jailed earlier this month for contempt of court.

But he said he would "far prefer" to be visiting Sean Quinn in Mountjoy than to be visiting him in the Mater Hospital.

"He's settled in reasonably well. He's doing very little, he's spending a lot of time in his cell, he's doing a bit of reading and as he'd say he's dodging about," he said.

"There's not much to do in prison I'll tell you that."

Mr Quinn Jnr also spoke about his wife Karen Woods and the €320,000 she was paid from a Russian company while working at a Dublin car dealership.

"In relation to that, my wife Karen had no involvement whatsoever and it was my bright idea, it wasn't that bright at the time, to get Karen over to Russia and be appointed a salary," he said.

Mr Quinn Jnr said that he wasn't surprised his cousin Peter Darragh Quinn failed to show up to court on the day that they were both found to be in contempt.

He said that his cousin was put in an "extremely difficult position" by the court.

He also said that Peter would be remaining in Northern Ireland and had "no intention" of returning to the South "any time soon".

Irish Independent