Sabena Power, matriarch of the Paddy Power bookmaker family, left an estate valued at more than €861 million when she died in September 2025, according to papers published by the Probate Office this week.
The estate is one of the largest recorded by the Probate Office, with the fees for the grant of probate alone coming in at more than €678,000. The grant of probate is a legal measure that allows a person’s estate to be divided up, according to that person’s will.
While the Paddy Power bookmaking business is well known internationally, Power herself was a highly successful racehorse owner and breeder. Her distinctive racing colours were carried by two of the modern era’s finest sprint champions. Sole Power was the winner of the 2010 Nunthorpe Stakes, as well as the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Slade Power was winner of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and July Cup in 2014. Sole Power was also crowned Horse Racing Ireland’s Horse of the year in 2014.
In tributes following her death, she was noted for her vivacious presence across Irish racecourses and was a keen supporter of the interests of local Irish racecourses.
Power was the widow of David Power, who died in July 2024 leaving an estate valued at more than €400 million, according to media reports. The valuation was said to fluctuate with the value of shares in Flutter Entertainment plc, the parent company of Paddy Power. Flutter Entertainment plc also owns brands including FanDuel, Sky Betting & Gaming, and Sportsbet.
Under the terms of Sabena Power’s will, her assets were to be divided among her children, with one third going to each of her two sons William and Patrick and a sixth each to her daughters Shani and Tessa. She also left €50,000 to each of her 10 grandchildren.
The Power family bookmaking dynasty stretches back to Tramore racecourse in 1895, and David Power’s grandfather Richard Power. David began working in the betting industry in 1970 when he joined Richard Power after qualifying as a chartered accountant.
In 1988, he made a deal with fellow bookmakers Stewart Kenny and John Corcoran, creating Paddy Power, which joined forces with Betfair in 2016 to form one of the biggest betting companies in the world.
In other grants of probate, the Irish abstract painter and a prominent member of Aosdána, Anne Madden le Brocquy, left an estate valued at more than €6.5 million when she died in December 2025, according to papers published by the probate office.
Madden le Brocquy, who had addresses in Portobello, Dublin, Paris and Co Cork, was widely recognised as one of Ireland’s most important artists, celebrated for her large-scale, luminous canvases that bridged the gap between organic landforms and pure abstraction. She died at her home in Dublin at the age of 93.
Madden le Brocquy was born in London to an Irish father and an Anglo-Chilean mother. She married the celebrated Irish painter Louis le Brocquy in 1958. The two became a highly celebrated and influential couple, dividing their time between France and Ireland. Louis le Brocquy predeceased her in 2012.
In her will Madden le Brocquy divided her assets between her two sons Alexis and Pierre, with monetary bequests to extended family members.
Internationally renowned engineer Nael Georges Bunni of Howth, Co Dublin, left an estate valued at €7.16 million when he died in November 2025, according to the Probate Office.
Over a 50-year career, Bunni became one of the construction industry’s best known global voices for resolving high-stakes disputes, acting as an arbitrator, mediator and conciliator in more than 140 large-scale international cases valued at up to $700 million.
He served as the president of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (1987-88) and the global president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (2000-01). He was also a member of the Governing Board for the International Council for Commercial Arbitration.
Born in Kirkuk, Iraq, in 1939, he completed his bachelor’s degree at Baghdad University. He moved to the UK to earn his master’s from Manchester University and a PhD in structural engineering from London University. He left Iraq permanently in 1968 and moved to Ireland.
- The figures mentioned in this article includes all assets, which typically include a family home, and investments or land.