The anger soon wore off however . . . Michael proved himself a natural businessman and, upon his father's retirement, took over the running of Jefferson Smurfit, overseeing its expansion to become the biggest company of its type in Europe.

In 2002 the Jefferson Smurfit Group was bought out by a consortium of venture capitalists.

Michael received around 230m for his stake in the company while his younger brothers Alan and Dermot, father of actress Victoria (right), got between 10m and 20m each. The Smurfit family is now estimated to be worth over 500m.

Michael and his brothers have all been involved in running the company at different times, making it unusual among Irish businesses for being kept in the family for so long.

His younger and more outgoing brother, Jefferson jnr, had also been heavily involved in running the company, until tragedy struck in 1987, when Jefferson jnr collapsed and died, just two days before his daughter's wedding.

His death had a devastating effect on his youngest son Jason, who was 15 at the time of his father's death. Despite Michael Smurfit's attempts to look after his young nephew, Jason gradually cut himself off from the rest of the family, drifting from job to job. When he was 18 he was involved in a freak accident at the K Club, when a friend who Jason had been racing golf buggies with was killed when the buggy crashed.

In later years he began to display signs of mental illness and became increasingly erratic. He had been out of contact with many of his family members for some time when, in May 2006, he doused himself in petrol and set himself alight in the grounds of a London church. He was buried at a private ceremony in Dublin.