Michael O'Leary sings Mullingar's praises!

"I've always loved living in Mullingar. It's a great town, very good people. For the size of the town, we've had extraordinary success, from the singers Joe Dolan and the boy band members - we have Olympic boxing champions!" 

That was how Michael O'Leary responded to a query about living in Mullingar.

The Ryanair CEO spoke of how he moved to the town with his parents as a one-year-old.

"I grew up here... It's a great town in which to grow up in, good schools, great sports facilities, good sporting clubs."

"We have the (international) business people as well, apart from the local successful ones... It's a great town to live in and a great town to rear your children in.

"I now pay a humongous amount of tax for the privilege of bringing my children up in this town - so it would want to be blood good for the amount of tax I'm bloody paying!"

Mr O'Leary was speaking at a Newstalk radio event hosted in Miller & Cook by entrepreneur Bobby Kerr.