All talk was of Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's colourful chief executive, who did not attend the launch of Ryanair: How a Small Irish Airline Conquered Europe, by Siobhán Creaton, in Dublin this week.
The book is "the warts-and-all version, the story from day one, about the complete greed and ruthlessness and tremendous achievement," explained Creaton, who is finance correspondent of this newspaper. She said she was not worried about an angry response from O'Leary on foot of this unauthorised account because, she says, "he sees any publicity as good publicity. He'll just ride through this. I'm sure he's got feedback, but, on one level, he likes publicity".
Gillian Bowler, the founder of Budget Travel and chairwoman of Irish Life & Permanent, launched the book. She acknowledged the leading contribution made by Ryanair and Michael O'Leary to the cause of cheaper travel over the past decade in Ireland. A few years ago, she said, "people would not have considered jumping on a plane to Paris for the weekend. It would be like going to the moon".
Vincent Wall, of Aer Rianta, which has had "a fairly abrasive relationship" with Ryanair and O'Leary, said he was looking forward to reading the book.
Others at the launch included Bill Murdoch, former business editor of this newspaper; Gina Byrne, who went to school with Creaton and also comes from the writer's native Ballaghaderreen in Co Roscommon; and Brian Bell, deputy managing director of Wilson Hartnell PR, which had Ryanair as a client in the early 1990s.
"I'm looking forward to reading it because I'm sure I wasn't aware of a lot of what went on," he said.
• Ryanair: How a Small Irish Airline Conquered Europe, by Siobhán Creaton, is published by Aurum Press