GERRY’S FINAL JOURNEY HOME
Mr Ryan’s funeral Mass will begin at 11.30am tomorrow, with the broadcaster’s remains being brought directly to St John the Baptist Church in Clontarf from the family home which he shared with his wife Morah and their five children until their separation two years ago.
Head of 2FM John MacMahon said the decision to broadcast the funeral live was influenced by the reaction of Gerry’s legions of fans and the size of St John the Baptist Church.
“Radio was Gerry’s life and we want to pay tribute to that,” Mr McMahon said.
Mr Ryan’s remains were brought to his Clontarf home yesterday evening after a postmortem examination.
Family friend and public relations representative, Joanne Byrne, said St John the Baptist was chosen because it was special to the Ryan family as the venue for many of their key events.
All five Ryan children were baptised there, Gerry and Morah were married there and the funeral services for Gerry’s parents were also held there in recent years.
Ms Byrne said the format of the funeral service was still being finalised by Morah and the children and suggested that while the last few days had been extremely tough on the family, they were taking comfort from the many expressions of support from the general public.
Meanwhile, Mr Ryan continued to dominate the airwaves, four days after his death.
The late presenter was remembered in on-air tributes on both RTE1 and 2FM as normal programming was suspended once again. The Gerry Ryan Show’s roving reporter, Evelyn O’Rourke, presented a special tribute programme during which fans and friends called and texted in with their memories of Gerry.
Joe Duffy also dedicated his Liveline show to Mr Ryan’s memory. Thousands more queued at the Mansion House in Dublin and the radio centre in RTÉ to sign books of condolence.
It has also emerged that tribute film clips created by fans on YouTube have combined viewer numbers of almost 100,000.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
