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Ben Dunne in 2000. RollingNews.ie

Ben Dunne: 'Larger than life' businessman lived 'a life less ordinary'

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was “deeply saddened” to hear of the businessman’s death.

TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to Irish businessman Ben Dunne, who has died at the age of 74. 

It is understood that he died in Dubai. 

A former boss of the Dunnes Stores empire, he was seen as a giant of Irish business, but he was embroiled in controversy during his lifetime, which saw him arrested in Florida in 1992 and admit to making payments to former taoiseach Charles Haughey. 

In a statement, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was “deeply saddened” to hear that Dunne had died.

“A constituent of mine in Castleknock and a local employer, I met Ben many times. He really was larger than life,” he said.

“Among other things, he pioneered the fitness industry in Ireland first with Westpoint and then Ben Dunne Gyms.

“He led a life less ordinary and in turn he made some mistakes in life. The best people do. He never allowed that to defeat him or hold him back. He touched the lives of tens of thousands who will mourn his loss.”

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said she was “very sad” to hear of Dunne’s death, adding that her thoughts were “with his beloved family”. 

“He was a good man who cared about people. We will never see his likes again. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis,” she said in a statement shared on social media. 

The youngest of six children, Dunne was born in Cork in 1949 to parents Nora Maloney and Ben Dunne Sr, who had founded the Dunnes Stores chain of supermarkets. 

He worked in the family business from a young age and later became a director of the company along with his siblings. 

096Ben Dunne_90655721 Ben Dunne in one of his Buy Right stores. Leon Farrell / RollingNews.ie Leon Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

In 1981, Dunne was kidnapped by the IRA while on his way to open a Dunnes Stores outlet in Portadown. He was held for ransom for seven days before being released. 

It was reported at the time that IR£1.5 million was paid in a ransom and that it was done at the request of Charles Haughey to Patrick Gallagher.

But this was disputed by Dunne in an interview with Miriam O’Callaghan in 2014.

“The amount I think, I know, in my opinion is wrong and Charlie Haughey and Patrick Gallagher had nothing to do with the ransom being paid whatsoever, in my opinion, and I think I would have an idea if they did had,” he said. 

Speaking about the kidnapping, Dunne said: “I remember when they let me go but I didn’t know whether I was free or not. I was left in a graveyard in Cullyhanna, and the first thing I did was I got in to a grave.

I looked up and I could see the stars in the sky and next thing I immediately said ‘Good God they could back here and shoot me, throw the earth in, never to be found again’ so I crawled out of that grave.

Dunne took over the running of Dunnes Stores following his father’s death in 1983. 

Just over a decade later, in 1992, he was arrested for cocaine possession and soliciting while on a golf holiday in Florida. It ultimately resulted in him losing his position at the head of Dunnes Stores. 

The controversy grew when an internal investigation at the company revealed Dunne had made payments to politicians, including former taoiseach Charlie Haughey.

In 1997, the McCracken Tribunal and the Moriarty Tribunal were set up off the back of the revelations to investigate secret payments made to politicians. 

In his evidence, Dunne confirmed that he had made the payments to Haughey. 

payments-to-politicans-moriarty-tribunals Ben Dunne leaving the payments to politicians tribunal at Dublin Castle with his solicitor Noel Smyth in 1999. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

Speaking to RTÉ’s Sundays with Miriam in 2014, he said he was “angry” when the Moriarty Tribunal found that a rent deal linked to him was “profoundly corrupt”.

“I’m in business today and I’ve a lot of people who’re doing business with me, and I know that if they thought I was corrupt, they wouldn’t be dealing with me,” he said.

When asked about the payments to Haughey, Dunne said he had “no regrets”.

“I have no regrets about things that came out that were true and what came out about Haughey was true. I gave him money but why have a regret?”

“You gotta get on with life and live your life and do the best you can, you can’t undo the past.”

He also said the revelations about the payments meant politicians didn’t ask him for money. 

“They run a million miles from me. Brown envelopes, money and Ben Dunne, it’s about the worst ingredient. ‘If you want to win a seat in an election in Ireland, don’t go near Ben Dunne’. It’s a fantastic slogan to have around me.”

After being bought out of Dunnes by his siblings, he pursued other business interests, particularly in the leisure industry. He founded an eponymous chain of gyms in 1997.

He is survived by his wife, Mary, and his four children.

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Sun 9:07 PM

    Double whammy. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down! Bummer…

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    Mute CP
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    Mon 12:22 AM

    @William Tallon: Fliuch sake

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    Mute Me Me
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    Mon 7:33 AM

    @William Tallon: No weather for a carpenter to be outdoors.

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    Mute BJ Próvaí formerly Child of Drague
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    Sun 8:43 PM

    Dirty rotten orange bast…

    120
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    Mute Mark
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    Sun 9:47 PM

    We need it after such a dry spell. Good for the grass and crops.

    49
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    Mute Alan Moloney
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    Mon 5:15 AM

    @Mark: can’t say we are short on water

    13
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    Mute FoxyBoiiYT
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    Sun 8:49 PM

    The rain here in Limerick for the last hour has been biblical!

    43
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    Mute BJ Próvaí formerly Child of Drague
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    Sun 8:51 PM

    @FoxyBoiiYT: Doncha knoah it.

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    Mute Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson
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    Sun 8:55 PM

    @FoxyBoiiYT: That’s Angela’s Ashes weather. It piddled through that movie.

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    Mute FoxyBoiiYT
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    Sun 9:37 PM

    @Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: I say that all the time! It’s Angela Ashes weather out there

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    Mute CP
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    Sun 10:38 PM

    @FoxyBoiiYT: Angela lashes

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    Mute FoxyBoiiYT
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    Sun 10:39 PM

    @CP: That’s extra

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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Sun 11:28 PM

    @FoxyBoiiYT: Divine punishment!

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    Mute John Paul
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    Mon 9:27 AM

    @FoxyBoiiYT: You’re always going on about how much of a kip Dublin is and you’re from limerick?

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    Mute Mary Sullivan
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    Mon 12:41 AM

    I wouldn’t worry unduly. There was a red alert in Tipperary at around a quarter past four yesterday but by five o clock the forecast had been downgraded to that of a gentle breeze.

    21
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    Mute k owens
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    Sun 8:54 PM

    Hang on we get rain every day what’s the difference. Orange yellow.red .

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    Mute kevin rock
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    Sun 8:55 PM

    @k owens: different severities .
    Good night now

    39
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    Mute Jack Hayes
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    Sun 9:02 PM

    @k owens: Every day?! Red, yellow, green. It’s a ‘traffic-light system’ used to categorise severities, rash management, decision-making, communication etc. Ask a family member or trusted adult for more information on this if required.

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    Mute k owens
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    Sun 9:18 PM

    @Jack Hayes: all my family drowned in a flood . They were on Noah’s ark with yours.

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    Mute You Cant Be Serious
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    Sun 9:55 PM

    @k owens: so they won’t be at croaker in two weeks for the football?

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    Mute Larry Betts
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    Sun 11:42 PM

    @Jack Hayes: it’s red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet weather. All the colours of the rainbow weather. Pride,in the Name of Floods. What,more? In the name of floods

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    Mute Me Me
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    Mon 7:40 AM

    @Larry Betts: Primary colours:Red, Yellow and Blue. Orange between Red and Yellow. Green between Yellow and Blue and Violet (purple) between Blue and Red. Where did Indigo come from?? Who uses ‘indigo’? Newton put in Indigo to get 7 colours, the same as the 7 notes in the musical scale. Along with being a scientific and mathematical genius he was a bit of a nut-job and believed 7 was a mystical number. But the time has come……. let’s drop indigo!!

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    Mute Brian Hunt
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    Mon 10:02 AM

    @Me Me: What about Ultra Violet?

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    Mute Glen Kelly
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    Sun 8:51 PM

    God help us all

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    Mute Dar
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    Sun 9:25 PM

    Landscapers wet dream

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    Mute p gert
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    Mon 1:47 AM

    What did ye think of the summer?

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    Mute anthony lambe
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    Mon 3:51 AM

    @p gert: it was an Indian summer, gave a bit of sun and then took it back.!!!

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    Mute KEN USSHER
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    Mon 7:08 AM

    @p gert: National hosepipe ban incoming

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    Mute lorraine leavy
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    Sun 9:55 PM

    Is westmeath not beside

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    Mute Mickstawowy
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    Mon 5:48 AM

    After two weeks good weather in may I sai it was our summer this year and nobody listens

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    Mute James Rowan
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    Mon 9:19 AM

    @Mickstawowy: and the 32 degrees on two days just little more than a week ago?

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    Mute Thesaltyurchin
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    Mon 10:34 AM

    Dunno why we’re not world leaders in coverings from the rain. We seem to prefer just being wet.

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    Mute Áine G
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    Mon 5:14 PM

    Nothing in Dublin to see @ 17.00.

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