Kilkenny-based daughter of Ryanair co-founder Christy Ryan to feature in new RTÉ documentary

Kilkenny-based Jenny Graham (formerly Jenny Ryan), the daughter of Ryanair co-founder Christy Ryan, features in a much-anticipated new documentary on the story and legacy of Irish airline Ryanair.

The programme explores the personal and inside stories at the heart of Ryanair's origins, as well as offering expert commentary on its infamous brash, irreverent approach to marketing over the years, and the strategies of CEO Michael O’Leary that transformed the airline, and air travel in Ireland and across Europe.

Jenny and her brother Christy speak in the programme about their memories of how Ryanair came to be, the first flight from Waterford in 1985, and their father's vision for the airline.

Another huge Kilkenny connection to Ryanair that you may not have heard about before is former senior pilot for the airline, George O'Hara.

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George, who grew up in St Francis Terrace in Kilkenny City, was a highly regarded senior Ryanair pilot who retired in early 2025 after a decorated four-decade career. 

He told Kilkenny Live that given the volatility of the aviation industry at the time, it was a hard for the Ryan family to know how to make money, or come to any firm realisation on the best way to take the airline. 

Picture: George O'Hara

"One day we got a call asking if we’d go to Toronto on Monday. This was a Thursday at the time," he explained in an interview with Kilkenny Live.

"We were told that Tony Ryan was thinking of buying ten or eleven Dash-8s (De Havilland Canada Dash 8s) and was thinking of starting an airline up in Bremen.

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"So we flew over and were there for Monday, started a flight safety course and got a call on Thursday to say that he had changed his mind and wasn’t going to proceed with the purchase of these aircraft.

"But that was the airline back then. Tony was a true entrepreneur."

Although Captain George O'Hara does not feature in the new documentary, it promises to shed some more light on what the airline was like during the period he worked there.

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The first episode airs on RTÉ One on Monday March 16. Both episodes are available on RTÉ Player from that night.

The second episode airs on RTÉ One on Monday 23 March, also at 9.35pm.

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