Irish Examiner view: Posterity will be generous to the memory of the late Ben Dunne

Mon, 20 Nov, 2023 - 02:05

Ben Dunne, the fabled Cork entrepreneur who died in Dubai after suffering a heart attack at the age of 74, properly qualifies for those euphemisms beloved of obituary writers. Whether you describe him as “colourful” or “larger than life”, both descriptions, and many others will be huge understatements.

Ben Jnr was as instantly recognisable in his era as Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary is today.

He was born in the family home, Ringmahon House, Mahon, and, aged 16, followed his father Ben Snr into the retail empire, which had started with the first Dunnes Stores on Patrick St in 1944.

He was pivotal to its expansion but success brought with it a flamboyant series of episodes which influenced the commercial and political life of Ireland over the past 40 years.

In 1981, he became one of a sequence of high-profile kidnapping victims by the Provisional IRA, which included Thomas Niedermayer, Don Tidey, Tiede Herrema, and the racehorse Shergar.

He was released after what was believed, but never confirmed, to be the payment of a large ransom by his father.

Hotelier John Brennan, businessman Ben Dunne, and Dee Forbes, who later became RTÉ director general, enjoying a light-hearted moment at the Haven Charity lunch at the Imperial Hotel, Cork, in 2014. Picture: Billy MacGill

In the 1990s, he was at the centre of several political scandals that led to the downfall of former taoiseach Charles Haughey and former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry.

In 1992, he was arrested for cocaine possession and soliciting in Orlando, Florida, transgressions which led to his forced departure from the family company at the behest of his siblings, and to the McCracken Tribunal report and the long-running Moriarty Tribunal.

When asked about his illicit payments to Haughey, there was no appetite for the sanctimonious hand-wringing which is a common response to modern scandals.

“I have no regrets about things that came out that were true and what came out about Haughey was true,” he said.

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.

Outside of the dynastic Dunne empire, he went on to found a network of gyms bearing his name and is survived by his wife Mary, his daughter Caroline, and three sons, Robert, Nicholas, and Mark.

Posterity is likely to be more generous, and forgiving, of his flaws and lurid misdeeds than were his critics at the time.

Robert said: “Overall, in the final analysis, he was a good and decent man. I’m going to miss him in a way I can’t even describe in words.”

Ben Dunne's IRA kidnap, arrest in Florida, and 'thanks, big fella': Episodes in a life lived large

Sport eats itself amid regulatory crisis

Some soccer supporters might be tempted to give a cheer as plans to establish an “independent regulator” for the sport were included in the king’s speech to the British parliament, and may find their way into legislation.

The way spectator sports are funded is again becoming a hot topic as broadcasting deals for English Premier League soccer are due to run out at the end of the 2024/25 season. Stock picture

Pause for a moment, to consider whether so-called improvements in governance and sporting rules generally have been a huge benefit?

At one basic level, where fans are treated as customers, it is now necessary, under the justification of “consumer choice”, to purchase a swathe of subscriptions to stay fully in touch.

The current deal which divides coverage between Sky, recently rebranded TNT Sports, Amazon Prime Video, and terrestrial broadcasters expires at the end of the 2024/25 season.

A mooted increase in the number of live games to 270 a
season is expected to tempt other providers such as Disney and DAZN. With additional choice comes extra cost. Who, exactly, does this serve? Not the end user.

It is often forgotten that when video-assisted refereeing (VAR) was introduced we were told it would be used “rarely”. It has instead become a behemoth, ruining the game. In rugby, rule changes have placed the nuances of complex laws at the centre of the action, with the last World Cup bedevilled by coaches complaining about referees, and death threats to the families of officials to the point of them quitting. Even a practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix has led to a class action lawsuit from 35,000 disappointed fans after it lasted less than nine minutes due to a loose manhole cover.

The most significant (and ongoing) political intervention in sport of the past two years was the fire sale of Chelsea FC after its owner, Roman Abramovich, became a proscribed person following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Part of the deal was that at least half of the €4.5bn in proceeds should be allocated to humanitarian aid to victims of that war. Those sums remain in limbo because of disagreements between politicians about their distribution.

An even bigger storm now roils around the Premier League, with multi-billion euro legal challenges likely to arise from financial irregularities which saw Everton docked 10 points this week, and complex investigations into the affairs of Manchester City and Chelsea, the two most successful clubs of the past 20 years. It’s no wonder that the England manager described the prospect of an independent regulator as “another VAR waiting to happen.”

“I don’t know what the remit is,” said Gareth Southgate. “It would worry me that we’re trying to find simple solutions to very complex problems. Which is often the way in life.”

It is often the way. New broom administrators and regulators supported by lawyers, accountants, and PR spin merchants like to make their mark. We must remember that old warning: “Be careful what you wish for.”

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Remembering JFK

We might halt for a moment this Wednesday evening to consider how the world could have differed if the 35th US president, John F Kennedy, had not been assassinated in Dallas 60 years ago.

Then US president John F Kennedy's motorcade leaving Collins Barracks in Cork during his Irish visit in 1963. Less than five months later he was dead, killed by an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Texas. Irish Examiner Archive

Most people of a certain age will remember that event.

It was 12.30pm in Texas, early evening in Ireland.

The Beatles had released their second LP. It was just over 150 days since JFK had been rapturously received in his heritage country.

His charisma and oratory provided the sunniest period of world leadership of the past century. For “one brief shining moment”, in the words of the author and journalist William Manchester, it was possible to feel optimistic about the future. We could do with a renewal of that sense of hope and belief now and in the years to come.

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