FAIRYTALE IN NEW YORK
The Irish men and women making it big in the States & rubbing shoulders with the A-listers
The first line had me as an Irish famine survivor, so I was like, ‘Jesus I must read on’ RONAN RYAN ON THE BEST-SELLING BOOK FLASHBOYS INSPIRED BY HIS LIFE
A BANKER dubbed “The Irish Wolf of Wall Street” has told how his company handles deals worth more than $5billion every day on the New York Stock Exchange.
Ronan Ryan, originally from Dundrum in South Dublin, is making a fortune through his company IEX which buys and sells shares in a fraction of a second.
He is one of countless Irish people earning high incomes serving the super-rich in America along with nightclub promoter Patrick Greene, from Sligo, and caterer to the stars Janet O’brien, from Dun Laoghaire.
Their stories feature in RTE’S Irish In Wonderland which takes a closer look at how ex-pats have carved successful careers for themselves in the playground of the rich and famous.
Ronan, whose antics inspired the best-selling book Flashboys by Michael Lewis, said: “I’ve tried not to use such colourful language since I read the book.
“The first line had me as an Irish famine survivor so I was like, ‘Jesus I must read on, this is going to be interesting’.
“I have a lot of bad language in there, but I’m proud my kids will get to read about me some day in a book.
“The work hard, play hard image of Wall Street is a bit of a myth. It has evolved. There’s less of the big cigars you used to see on the floor of the stock exchange.”
In the five years since Patrick Greene landed in New York on a J1 visa he’s gone from bartending in Hell’s Kitchen to hosting events with Conor Mcgregor and Leonardo Dicaprio.
His Greene Room VIP concierge service is used by the biggest clubs in Manhattan and he rubs shoulders with the likes of the Kardashians and Paris Hilton, who he once saw spend $250,000 on bottle service for her birthday party. PR guru Patrick, 28, revealed: “I got on the guest list for a big nightclub one night but when we got there we were told that didn’t guarantee us entry. “So I made inquiries to all the nightclubs and started running events. There’s no cost to you, I’m paid by the nightclub because every venue is fighting against each other to have the right crowd in.
“The best thing I would’ve been involved with was the Conor Mcgregor after-fight party [when he defeated Alverez]. It was the biggest hype New York had in many years.
“The nightclub didn’t really believe it when I said the demand would be so phenomenal. They have 25 tables and every one of them was sold for nothing under $8,000.” Janet O’brien emigrated to the States when she was 21 and now runs her own bespoke catering company serving the likes of designer Ralph Lauren, rapper 50 Cent and Bill and Hillary Clinton.
She said: “Puff Daddy was one of my first parties. He was dating J-LO at that time and she’s amazing. She’s just gorgeous, she’s really spunky.
“We were asked to do her birthday party here [in The Hamptons]. It was
very styled and very fun but like most people she loves just good, earthy food so we did burgers.
“My rate is up to about $50,000 but we did one last year and I’d say that was a good half a million by the time everything was done.”
Shoe designer Eileen Shields, from Dublin, has made bespoke footwear for Angelina Jolie, Demi Moore, Gwen Stefani and Halle Berry – but she counts one of The Muppets among her most important clients. She added: “Michelle Obama was wearing the shoes I made her the day they were going into the White House and I’ve designed for Barbra Streisand.
“But the highlight was doing Miss Piggy’s shoes. We got moulds of her feet sent to us and I built the shoes.”
Helicopter pilot Andrew Woods, from Howth in North Dublin, has flown some of the world’s biggest celebrities and admits he was blown away by actress Jennifer Lawrence. He said: “She was an amazing woman. I flew her to upstate New York and she was great fun. Another favourite of mine is Chris Martin.
“An R407 for six people to the Hamptons will set you back $5k return. That’s loose change for most of these people. It’s not about the money, it’s having what they want when they want it and fast.”
In the show, presented by Yasmine Akram, estate agent Claire Kirwan shows off a $10million Hamptons mansion w and property tycoon Frank Macnamara talks about his empire. Kerry designer Don O’neill reveals why he loves making dresses for Khloe Kardashian, Terry Wogan’s niece Jane Wogan Notar talks about her restaurant empire and builder John Fitzpatrick shows off a 63-storey apartment block which cost $200million to build.
Irish In Wonderland airs on RTE Two on Thursday at 9.30pm.
sylviapownall@irishmirror.ie