Business tycoon Tony O'Reilly recently gave Hong Kong a lesson in the charm and flamboyant style that has made him an inspiration in his homeland

BEANS means Heinz', as the advertising slogan used to say. But ask anyone from Ireland and they'll add that much more importantly Heinz means Dr Tony O'Reilly. Eire's very own Renaissance man is a national success story, an example to generations of Ireland's youth of how far you can get with drive and a good business mind.

As a hero he always seemed accessible, even when he became president and chief operating officer of H J Heinz worldwide at the age of 37. He served as chief executive officer from 1979 to 1998. Being synonymous with such vital components of Irish life as baked beans and tomato ketchup would have made him a household name anyway, but then he was also a world-class sportsman. Every Irish schoolboy knows O'Reilly won 29 rugby caps for Ireland and that his scoring records on both the winning British Lions tour of South Africa in 1955 and of New Zealand and Australia four years later have never been broken.

He may personify Heinz to many, but by the time he joined the food manufacturer he had already masterminded the Irish dairy brand Kerrygold and been managing director of the Irish Sugar Company for three years. Then there's his vast Independent News and Media group, of which O'Reilly is executive chairman and controlling shareholder. The group has grown from Independent Newspapers, publishers of Ireland's daily newspaper the Irish Independent, to include newspaper and magazine publishing, broadcasting, multi-channel and pay TV, Internet and e-commerce interests in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa.

In many ways he's both Ireland's Li Ka-shing and Rupert Murdoch. Like them, his sons Cameron, Tony and Gavin each run different parts of the empire and are the heirs to his considerable fortune.

His lifestyle has never disappointed those who like their tycoons high profile. There's no false modesty here. He has homes in Deauville, France - where he lives for two months of the year in the castle that once belonged to William the Conqueror. Then there's Castlemartin in Ireland, the elegant Georgian residence set in 405 hectares of prime County Kildare farmland. He spends four months there, with another three in the Bahamas. For the remainder he travels the world on business in his private jet, the twin-engined Gulfstream G111 that had to divert to Macau last week because Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department deemed it too noisy for Chek Lap Kok's delicate ears.

And, of course, no multimillionaire, especially an Irish one, could call himself a tycoon without a string of racehorses.