Nobel prize for charity a ‘suitable memorial’ to Irishman who lost his life in Ethiopian Airlines crash

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an award that has been described as a “suitable memorial” to the Irishman who worked for the charity and lost his life in an airplane crash last year.

Micheál Ryan, was one of 157 people who died when an Ethopian Airlines flight on a Boeing 737 Max crashed minutes after take-off en route from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya on March 10, 2019.

Originally from Clare, Mr Ryan had been living in Cork city with his wife Naoise and two young children.

He died just two weeks before his 40th birthday, along with seven of his WFP colleagues.

RTÉ News reported that Mr Ryan’s mother, Christine Ryan, described the awarding of the Nobel prize to the WFP was a “very suitable memorial” to Micheál and his colleagues.

Ms Ryan said her son and his colleagues had “given so much and still had so much potential” in their lives.

"This is a very proud day for their families, who lost such valued loved ones," she said.