Top earners on rich list despite ritzy weddings

PLUSH weddings failed to stop high-flying businessman Michael O’Leary and Westlife star Nicky Byrne from being among the country’s top earners in the past year.

The Ryanair chief executive bagged around €25 million last year, all but three-quarters of a million euro from the sale of small part of his stake in the airline in June. The sale made him Ireland’s fifth-highest earner last year, according to the Sunday Times Pay List 2003.

A sizeable chunk of Mr O’Leary’s €770,000 salary went on the A-list nuptials at his home in Mullingar to his bride Anita Farrell in September, where political and business figures were among the first-class guests.