Irish businessman Ben Dunne will be buried following a funeral service today.
The 74-year-old former boss of retailer Dunnes Stores suffered a fatal heart attack while on holiday in Dubai on November 18. His Requiem Mass will take place at St Mochta’s Church, Porterstown, Clonsilla, West Dublin, before burial in Castleknock Churchyard.
The entrepreneur ran Dunnes Stores as managing director and executive chairman for almost 10 years following the death of his father, also named Ben, in 1983. He was paid £100million for his share of the business, and he later went on to establish a chain of fitness centres.
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Mr Dunne, who was born in Cork in March 1949, was a major figure in Irish business for several decades. In 1981, he was kidnapped by the IRA and held for a week before eventually being released following the payment of a ransom reportedly totalling £1million. In 1992, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and soliciting while on holiday in Florida.
The incident heralded the end of his leadership of Dunnes Stores, which ultimately passed to his sister Margaret Heffernan. He made headlines again in the mid-1990s when it emerged he had given large sums of money to Irish
politicians, including former Taoiseach Charles Haughey.
The scandal led to the establishment of tribunals of enquiry.
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