High-flying Ryans keep up family tradition
IT appears that Shane Ryan, son of the late Ryanair founder and business tycoon, Tony Ryan, is the mystery family buyer behind Lyons Demesne in Kildare — and that can be no bad thing.
He resides in Kilboy House in Co Tipperary and keeps it in impeccable condition, as some images on the website of British classical architects Quinlan and Francis Terry Architects confirm.
Meanwhile, I see Danielle Ryan, daughter of Cathal Ryan and granddaughter of Tony, is keeping her eye on the high street. She runs Roads, “a contemporary lifestyle brand” based in Dublin and recently complained on social media that Zara’s fragrance packaging was very similar to that of Roads.
A bottle of the Roads perfume will set you back €98 in Brown Thomas, while Zara’s line sells for less then €15. I also see that the heiress is spending more and more of her time in LA. A high-flyer in every sense.
TV3’S acquisition of UTV Ireland was always going to end in job losses. Or rather, the failure of UTV to break the market here meant the jobs in Dublin could never be sustained. When Michael Wilson, UTV ’s managing director of Television, spoke of the plans for the news station back in 2014, he said that unofficial theme music for the secret plan was Katie Perry’s combative hit tune Roar. After swiping Corrie from under the nose of TV3, UTV felt unstoppable in its assault on the Irish advertising market.
More than 100 people were to be employed, many of whom left RTE and TV3 to take a gamble on the bullish expectations of the startup. Unfortunately for Wilson and then chief executive John McCann, they misread the market in the Republic. Sadly for the staff, revenues only reached €16m last year, with losses coming in at close to €20m.
The past year has been very difficult for staff who have been awaiting their fate. Many have already left. Only 40 jobs will be available at TV3, which means that some of the 60 people still working at UTV will lose their jobs. The only upside that TV3, now owned by Liberty Global, and armed with the country’s most popular soap, will be in a stronger position than ever.