He had to withdraw before being formally nominated because of an indirect connection with a government contract,[2] but in the following July 1886 general election, he was returned unopposed for Kilkenny City.
However he disagreed with Parnell over the latter's treatment of the disputed "Paris funds"[4] and in May 1891 he applied for the Whip of the Anti-Parnellite Parliamentary Party chaired by Justin McCarthy.
The Anti-Parnellites were seriously divided between the factions led on the one hand by Timothy Healy, and on the other by John Dillon and William O'Brien; between them Quinn was a neutral.
[5] In February 1892 he saw off an attempt by a creditor to have him committed to prison, when the judge at Westminster County Court threw out the case on the ground of Parliamentary privilege.
[6] He died at his home in Kensington on 3 November 1897, having never recovered from a severe chill contracted when attending a Gaelic athletic sports event four months previously.