Hosting The Late Late Show and sitting behind the microphone for his five-day-a-week radio show made Byrne RTE’s biggest draw for advertising revenue. Lucrative offerEven after the theft of his savings, Byrne turned down a lucrative offer to join Century Radio, Ireland’s first independent national station. The approach came from impresario Oliver Barry who one Saturday in 1998 called out to Byrne’s house in Howth and laid a IR£1 million (€1.27 million) bank draft on a table to cover his salary for three years. By the time Byrne retired from RTÉ in 1999, he had started investing his money with property syndicator to the wealthy Derek Quinlan, the former tax inspector turned accountant. “I am no different to hundreds of thousands of people all over the country who lost money.”The financial losses meant he had to continue working into his 80s.

Source: The Irish Times November 04, 2019 21:11 UTC