Ryan body lies in repose at family home

The body of RTÉ presenter Gerry Ryan is lying in repose at his family home in Clontarf today ahead of his funeral tomorrow.

The coffin carrying Ryan’s remains was taken to the house on Castle Avenue, Clontarf, last night from the city morgue where a postmortem was carried out yesterday morning.

A small crowd of local neighbours turned out. Members of the public had placed bouquets of flowers on the railings outside the family home. The results of the postmortem have not been made public, but Ryan’s family believe he died of a massive heart attack in the early hours of Friday.

His body was found by his partner Melanie Verwoerd in his apartment on Leeson Street in Dublin on Friday afternoon.

A private wake was held this afternoon for friends and family.

The Ryan family have requested that, in lieu of flowers, well-wishers should make a donation to their charity of choice.

The funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Church of St John the Baptist on Clontarf Road at 11.30am. The church is where Ryan was married and where his mother’s funeral service was held three years ago.

The church seats only 300 people and will not be big enough to accommodate all those wishing to attend.

Family friend and spokeswoman Joanne Byrne said arrangements were being put in place to ensure that those who knew him well would be able to attend the funeral Mass, but it would not be an invitation-only event. “That’s not what Gerry was about,” she said.

Large crowds are expected to gather for the funeral along the short route from the Ryan family home on Castle Avenue to the church, a distance of about 750 metres.

Loudspeakers will be set up in the grounds of the church and 2fm will broadcast a Mass for the first time in its history. The funeral will also be screened by webcam on the parish website and on RTÉ’s website.

The chief celebrant will be Fr Michael Collins, the well-known priest and author, who was a regular guest on the Gerry Ryan Show talking about religious matters for 12 years. Ryan (53) often referred to him as “the Gerry Ryan padre and friend of this parish”.

Gardaí have warned that traffic will be disrupted in the area around the church and Dardistown Cemetery in Cloghran, where Ryan will buried.

Diversions put in place at Castle Avenue and Seafield Road East, Clontarf tomorrow morning. As there is limited parking available in the immediate vicinity of the church, arrangements have been put in place to provide overflow parking at nearby sports clubs.