Tipperary book shop hosts evening with founder of Ryanair's son

Bookworm Thurles held a special night with Declan Ryan, the son of Ryanair founder Tony Ryan, and journalist Tom Lyons, author of ‘Aer Dogs: How a small group of Irish entrepreneurs brought low-fare air travel around the world’ on Thursday, April 2.

Dozens gathered in the Thurles bookshop to listen to Declan recount his fond memories of his father, his time spent travelling around the world, his time establishing low-cost airlines in Singapore and Colombia, and his life after stepping down as CEO of Ryanair before passing the baton on to Michael O’Leary.

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The evening was opened by John Butler of Bookworm, who spoke of his delight to welcome Declan and Tom to the shop.

Declan spoke of his love for local book shops and their importance to the community, saying it was great to have such a crowd in attendance for the evening.

Declan spoke with great joy of returning to Thurles, the home town of both his father, and his mother, Maireád.

He said that though he was born in Cork, he felt at home coming back to Tipperary, and was thrilled to meet so many members of his extended family while visiting.

Declan talked through his aviation journey, including feats such as the impact Viva Colombia had on the South American nation, which he said saw a major rise in airline travel in the country, stating that before the airline began flying, the number of Colombians who had been on an airplane was at 4%, which has since risen to 30%.

He also spoke of the moment he realised that he could not continue to operate as the CEO of Ryanair, owing to the difficulties in family members continuing to operate family businesses on such a large scale, which led to him suggesting to his father that Michael O’Leary should assume the role, a position which he currently still holds.

When asked by a member of the crowd about his philanthropy, Declan remained humble and didn’t speak much of his efforts, saying that there are two things one should never give advice on, being tax and philanthropy.

At the end of the evening, Declan welcomed Kurdish Leitrim hurler Zak Moradi.

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Zak spoke of how Declan had read his book, and contacted him with regards to turning his story into a documentary.

The documentary can be viewed on the RTÉ Player, with Zak also saying that he is currently touring schools across the country, showing the documentary and telling his story.

He said that he was forever grateful to Declan for allowing him the opportunity to be able to bring his story to life on screen.

The evening concluded with Declan and Tom signing copies of both books.

Both ‘Aer Dogs: How a small group of Irish entrepreneurs brought low-fare air travel around the world’ by Tom Lyons and ‘Tony Ryan – Ireland’s Aviator’ by Richard Aldous, are available to purchase now.