Lulled into a false optimism by the recent balmy Dublin weather, the organisers of the Concern Summer Ball and Auction invited guests to a champagne reception on the front lawn of the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney. Well, Bono's Mercedes Benz was parked there, but the guests were running for cover. The sky was grey and overcast all day and few brave souls were prepared to tough it out.
Lisa McEnroe, Gareth Scully and Nicola Moyles stood their ground for a while, but just as the garden reception was due to kick off at 7 p.m., down came the rain. Whatever about the rain, the Summer Ball was definitely an excellent place for ladies to bag themselves a rich man. All tuxed up and flashing wads of cash, the men were here to outbid one-another for Naomi Campbell's coat and Ronan Keating's MTVAwards red suit, to raise money for concern's Ethiopia appeal. The girls were young, beautiful and mostly wearing pink.
RTE's Gerry Ryan was MC and Pat Gunne was auctioneer. Gerry Ryan was definitely the man with the plan: he and his wife Morah did what everyone else always wishes they could do - they took a holiday to recover from a holiday. They had been in Florida with the kids and, on returning to Ireland, dropped off the kids and headed to Dromoland Castle - arriving back just hours before Gerry was due to take control of the evening, which raised £104,000 for the charity.
Bono popped along to the ball - perhaps to shake the hands of the suits from Pepsi-Cola who bought his 1980 Mercedes Benz for £40,000. An Andrea Corr dress and bodhran signed by all the Corrs fetched more than £2,000; Ronan Keating's MTV Awards red suit went for £4,100 - now that should be easy to spot on some lad around Dublin! A day of golf for four at the K Club raised £2,500 and a guitar from REM fetched £4,000.
Pat McCarthy, that band's producer, is back in Dublin for a few months and was catching up with friends for the night. Jake Kennedy, U2's tour director, Giles Baxendale, and Una Kelly were all dressed up and having a ball.