Gerry Ryan

?Former Pasta Fresca head chef Matteau Patti has been causing a stir down in Naas since opening his own restaurant.

The Diary hears that The Apprentice's Bill Cullen and partner Jackie Lavin have been among the VIPs dropping in to Il Fico, a new Italian restaurant owned by Matteau and his business partner Michael Leonard. One regular visitor who often dropped by Patti's old Chatham Street establishment and who the chatty Italian says he would love to have down to Naas is Gerry Ryan. "Gerry was always great to have dining with us and a great tipper. The last time he was in Chatham Street, he left behind a €100 tip."

?Congratulations to Sebastian Barry. Hot on the heels of his triumph at the Costa Prize, his novel The Secret Scripture has now been nominated for the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Novelist David Park, historians Susan McKay and Paul Bew, and politician Jonathan Powell are also nominated.

? Expect to see Louis Walsh, Nicky Byrne and Keith Duffy in the window of Clery's department store this week. That's because the three will be visiting FM104 presenters Adrian Kennedy and Jeremy Dixon, on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday at 6pm, as
they camp out in the shop window in aid of the ISPCC.
The radio men will also be broadcasting their FM104 Phone Show from the same O'Connell Street location.