In 1988 Ryan was accused by British authorities of involvement in Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) activity, and was the subject of two unsuccessful extradition requests. Ryan denied the accusation in an interview with "The Tipperary Star", saying that he had raised money both inside and outside Europe for victims on the nationalist side in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. But Ryan insisted that he had "never bought explosives for the IRA or anybody else", and had never been requested by the paramilitary group to do so. In an interview with the BBC broadcast in 2019, Ryan admitted that he was "one hundred percent" involved in IRA bomb-making.