During the 1920s, Quill established the City of Cork Co-operative Society with Con Desmond. Quill was the secretary of the City of Cork Co-operative Society and manager and secretary of the Cork Co-operative Bakery Society. This included social enterprises such as Cooperative Tea, Cooperative Cream and Cooperative Bread. He was also a member of the Cork Co-operators' Guild. He was also the editor of "The Cork Co-Operator", a monthly publication of the co-operative movement in Cork. In a letter to the editor, published on the cover of the June 1939 issue, Steve Denny (director of the London Co-operative Society) described "The Cork Co-Operator" as a "bright little paper". Quill frequently attended the Co-operative Congress in the UK throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Inspired by Robert Owen, he built cottages for the workers on his land. Quill regarded himself as a Christian Socialist. He resigned his position in the co-operative movement in 1954. These societies were defunct by the time of his death in 1960. In 2021, an article in "The Southern Star" described Quill as "an icon in the Irish co-operative movement".