Revealed: Gerry's stress coping with €316k debts

WORRIED: Tragic star borrowed cash off own firm as pay slashed

Gerry Ryan

Gerry Ryan died owing hundreds of thousands of euro.

Ryan (53) had been borrowing heavily from his own company and owed the company €316,000 in the months before he died, it has emerged.

The 2FM star was contracted to work for RTE through his company Balcom Management Ltd.

Creditors were going unpaid while the broadcaster drew down major loans from the company's cash reserves.

His borrowings from Balcom increased from €70,000 to €316,000 while the company's assets dropped from €329,000 to just over €100,000.

Despite his huge annual salary creditors of Balcom were owed €355,000 by December 31st last year which was an increase of €255,000 more than the previous year.

This will be his family and friends' first Christmas without the gregarious personality, who was found dead in his Leeson Street home on April 30.

PRIME

And crucial information surrounding the causes of his death is expected to emerge at an inquest into the late star's death taking place this month.

It will be the final piece of the puzzle in the eventful life of one of Ireland's best-known personalities, a man who was deemed to have been cut down in his prime after dying at the age of 53. The details of his financial affairs will add to speculation that stress over money contributed to the star's early death.

Ryan was paid a salary of €676,354 in 2007 and vehemently opposed cuts which eventually brought his income down to €576,000 in 2009.

Despite a row with RTE management in which he described the cuts as "bullshit", he was forced to accept them through a combination of pressure from the station's senior executives and public criticism.

APARTMENT

As his income dropped he increased his personal interest-free loans from Balcom from €246,000 to €316,470.

Ryan, who was regularly seen at the upmarket Four Seasons Hotel, was in serious debt before he died.

Colleague Marion Finucane said the father-of-five was "very stressed" when she spoke to him three days before he died.

The details of his financial woes have come to light just eight days before the inquest into his death at Dublin City Coroners Court.

The presenter was found dead by his partner Melanie Verwoerd in a bedroom at his apartment at Upper Leeson Street in Donnybrook.

Both his ex-wife Morah and his partner are expected to give evidence at the inquest.

His funeral was broadcast live on radio.

csheehy@herald.ie

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