Eamon Dunphy, Former RTÉ colleague

PEOPLE weren't surprised (to hear about the cocaine) – people do it.

Did I hear about it? I wouldn't have cared. I would say it was recreational; now and again. I said it years ago, it's a very bad drug and there is a lot of bad cocaine around.

There was a period in the Celtic Tiger when everyone was doing cocaine. I wouldn't be shocked.

There is recreational drug use all over the place (but) I think his wild days were behind him.

It's tragic for Gerry's family. I liked him very much – he was a good fellow and I have great regard for his wife.

He was holding up 2FM on his own. He was a cash cow. His programme had 400,000-plus listeners and the personal nature of what he did meant that he gave a lot of himself. He spoke about his family and his emotions and that takes its toll.

If you were doing the kind of work, and the work load that he was carrying, you can't be anything other than very professional and very sober. You can't do that as a coke head and there is no way he was.

Willie O'Reilly, Chief executive of Today FM and Gerry Ryan's former producer

"I am very shocked over what has come out in the inquest and I am struggling to come to terms with it and how it has all come to this calamitous end. When I knew him and worked with him he was this happy, optimistic family man. We went in different directions and in the intervening period something terrible happened, something set in. I am struggling to understand what changed. I travelled the world with him and maybe we were fitter and younger in those days, but I never knew.

He was a shooting star and perhaps it is dangerous to fly so close to the sun, and so high. There are temptations, things are going to happen. He was clearly under pressure to stay as everyone wanted him to be."

Ian Dempsey, Former 2FM colleague

"The way I remember Gerry will not change, absolutely not – why would it? We worked together when I was only starting out and he was like a big brother to me. We had a few good nights out but that was the extent of it in terms of how friendly we were. It is sad to see such over-the-top coverage of the post mortem and the inquest. This is personal information that should have been kept to his family and closest friends only instead of being broadcast everywhere.

While every job is stressful, including my own, I know that some employers are looking at new methods to save money and perhaps Gerry was under pressure because of this. But if that was the reason for his suffering it is very sad. He always stuck up for himself."

Ruth Buchanan, Former RTÉ colleague

"I never knew Gerry to come across as stressed when he worked in RTÉ. I never knew that there was so much else going on. I don't think anyone had much of an idea and when Melanie spoke in the inquest of those ground rules they had made, and of their relationship, it was a surprise to a lot of people. It is sad that with all the health symptoms he was presenting that he could not have gone and got a check-up and maybe all of this wouldn't have happened. There was not much alcohol or cocaine found in his blood stream so there were obviously underlying problems which are the main reasons. He was stressed under it all too, and though a lot of us didn't know this, different people have different ways of coping with things. He may have felt that it was his job to be this personality everyone thought he was and wanted him to be, and the pressure of that would have been immense, and the pressure of listening to everyone else's problems but never discussing your own was there too."

Noel Kelly, Former manager

"Gerry's untimely passing brought an immeasurable loss onto his family, friends and listeners who considered Gerry a friend.

And to all of us fortunate enough to have considered him a close friend and, indeed, to a nation who held this legend of broadcasting dear to its heart.

His inquest has brought that deep sense of sadness to the fore all over again and my thoughts, first and foremost, at this time are with the extended Ryan family his friends and colleagues as they all face their first Christmas without Gerry. May he rest in peace.

Gerry Ryan was a good man a great broadcaster and friend. I have no comment to make on his private life. This is a time for supporting Gerry's family through their grief and letting Gerry rest in peace.

Twink, Friend

What Gerry did in his own time was his own business and should remain that way.

It is a travesty of justice that instead of our lasting memory of Gerry being the superb broadcaster and entertainer that he was, the last words on his passing is that he died of a cocaine-induced heart attack.

None of this should be for public consumption

Shame on them.