Tech entrepreneur Sean O’Reilly left an estate valued at €2.6 million when he died in July 2025, according to papers published by the Probate Office.
O’Reilly, a computer science graduate, cofounded GeoPal Solutions in 2011 alongside Gerard O’Keeffe and Paul Coyle. He served as the company’s chief technology officer for a decade until the company was acquired by Totalmobile in December 2021, after which he continued working with Totalmobile as a software programmer.
The price paid was not publicly revealed but the buyout was fuelled by a £100 million (€115.7 million) investment that Totalmobile secured from private equity firm Bowmark Capital in late 2020 to fund an aggressive “buy-and-build” growth strategy.
Before the sale, Dublin-based GeoPal had raised roughly €1.5 million to €2.5 million in early-stage venture funding, with Enterprise Ireland among its primary backers.
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Internationally recognised meteorologist and climate scientist Dr J Ray Bates, who served as the deputy director of Met Éireann and worked with Nasa in the US, left an estate valued at €1.3 million when he died, according to papers published by the Probate Office.
Bates, of Gilford Road, Sandymount, died aged 83 in January 2024. He achieved international prominence working in the United States as the branch head of the Laboratory for Atmospheres, at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
In Ireland he was a highly distinguished climate meteorologist, one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Irish Meteorological Society and served as its president.
In his later career and retirement he was an active academic contributor and prominent voice in global climate science discussions, known for his research on atmospheric dynamics and climate sensitivity.
Meanwhile, Dr Gaye Ashford, a recognised authority on 18th century social history, left an estate valued at €1.4 million, according to the latest probate papers.
Ashford, of Castleknock in Dublin, co-edited The Letters of Katherine Conolly 1707–1747 and was widely published by institutions such as the Irish Manuscripts Commission.
She lectured on the history of education, childhood, and women in Ireland at local libraries and historical societies.
Ashford died in August 2024.
Prominent Leitrim entrepreneur Timmy Beirne left an estate valued at €1.96 million when he died in October 2025.
Beirne set up Modular Cold Stores Mohill along with his brother Patrick in 1977 and the company went on to become a large employer in the region with sales and contracting offices in Kildare, Dublin, Wexford, Galway, and Armagh.
Beirne, of Cloone Village, Co Leitrim, was a keen supporter of the GAA and an active player from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Bernadette Catherine Murray, of Ardsallagh House, Navan, Co Meath, left €4.34 million when she died in February 2024.
Murray, who was aged 90 when she died, was a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a local historian. Her published research extensively mapped and analysed the Ardsallagh Townland Census of 1821, matching historical landlord estate surveys with early 19th century genealogical records to detail the lives of early residents.
