That humour was characteristic of his mood during those final days. subscriptionStartDate: '0000-00-00T00:00:00Z', if (subscriberCookieStatus === "undefined") { return { subscriptionStatus: 'Corporate', The company had contracted commitments for new aircraft amounting to a staggering $9.4bn \u2013 a massive one-way bet on the continuing expansion of the commercial airline business.The early 1990s turned out to be the worst possible time to launch. window.loadGTM(); She has used her profile to promote the budding Academy of Dramatic Arts in Dublin and the Lir Theatre near Grand Canal Square, where she is a director.And just days before her glamorous wedding in Brompton Oratory in London earlier this year, she announced that she was selling the exclusive family home and estate she inherited from her father.Tony Ryan, whose aviation business founded the family fortune, shunned publicity, rarely giving interviews and, when he did, exerting as much influence as he could over what was written about him.Instead he preferred to get on with life behind the high walls of his various mansions, Kilboy in Tipperary, Castle Lyons in Co Kildare, Eaton Square in London and his villa in Ibiza.But all that ended when the former Miss Ireland Michelle Rocca went to the High Court to seek damages from her one-time lover Cathal Ryan, arising out of an assault at a 30th birthday party in Blackhall Stud in Co Kildare.The High Court resembled a photo shoot for a celebrity magazine with the Rocca sisters, Michelle\u0026#039;s new lover Van Morrison, hairdresser David Marshall, Marian Gale and others parading through the courtroom to give their account of June Moloney\u0026#039;s 30th birthday party, which Judge Michael Moriarty memorably conceded would \u0026amp;quot;not fall within the realms of a Vicarage tea-party\u0026amp;quot;.The \u0026#039;bit players\u0026#039; in the drama, the celebrity lawyer Gerald Kean and his then-wife Clodagh, Dr Stephen Murphy -- and Ryanair\u0026#039;s chief executive Michael O\u0026#039;Leary -- added to the glitter and drama of that heady week when the most intimate details of Cathal Ryan\u0026#039;s life with Michelle were forensically dissected by the lawyers Garret Cooney and Nicholas Kearns.Perhaps the fear of reprising that courtroom drama in 1997 would deter most families from ever wanting to see the inside of a court room again.But that may be about to change.Cathal Ryan\u0026#039;s extensive will is now the subject of High Court proceedings. subscriptionStatus: purchase.granted_by_app_purchase.sku_code, userID: purchase.granted_by_corporate_account.user_id, Theory: The Universe Is Safer Without Tony Stark return 'epaper-access'; Ryanair tycoon Cathal Ryan (left, with girlfriend Does Tony Really Die in 'After Life' Season 3? THAT - Newsweek } catch (e) { vars.article.userWall = ! [21][22], Ryan, who lived at Lyons Demesne in Ardclough, County Kildare, died on 3 October 2007, aged 71, following an 18-month illness with pancreatic cancer. "We were fighting like cats and dogs," he says, "and to be fair to him, I would say I was an odious little jerk because I wanted to get rich. Kind of like SAMCRO. The Sopranos creator David Chase finally revealed what happened to Tony Soprano in the infamous series finale.. document.cookie = subscriberCookieName + "=" + JSON.stringify(cookieData) + ';path=/;domain=' + domain + ';max-age='+cookieExpiryInSeconds; Now, five years after his untimely death, the last wishes of the one-time pilot and major Ryanair shareholder Cathal Ryan will feature in the trustees' impending battle with the Revenue Commissioners.