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.
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.
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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