The Ireland Funds Monaco Gala Weekend took place over the weekend of October 11th to 13th with the main event being the Gala Evening which was held on Saturday, October 12th at the Salle Empire in the presence of HSH Prince Albert II who presented the Princess Grace Humanitarian Award to esteemed philanthropist and businessman Dermot Desmond.
The evening was attended by over 200 guests from around the world who were entertained by a performance on the flute by Michael Flatley and the Lord of the Dance performers, along with a surprise from Eddie Jordan who joined them for a fantastic performance, making the night exceptionally entertaining and memorable for all.
The Princess Grace Humanitarian Award
The Ireland Funds Monaco Princess Grace Humanitarian Award was created to acknowledge outstanding achievement by Irish men and women in the field of human rights, social justice, education and humanitarian action. The Princess Grace Humanitarian Award, which has been presented by HSH Prince Albert II on behalf of The Ireland Funds Monaco since its inception in 2004, is the sole such award dedicated to the memory of the late Princess Grace. Past recipients of the award include President of Ireland Mary Robinson, HG Duchess of Abercorn Sasha Hamilton, JP McManus, Adi Roche and Ali Hewson, Sir Michael Smurfit, and Denis O’Brien.
2024 Recipient — Mr Dermot Desmond
Dermot Desmond was born in Cork in 1950 but has lived most of his life in Dublin. Dermot is the Chairman of IIU, which he founded in 1994. In his early career, Dermot worked for Citibank and the Investment Bank of Ireland. He then worked for the World Bank in Afghanistan on a United Nations Development Program. In 1981 he returned to Ireland and founded National & City Brokers (NCB). He sold NCB in 1994 and founded IIU, which operates today from the Financial Services Centre in Dublin. IIU holds a substantial number of investments in a variety of industries worldwide.
The Ireland Funds Monaco
The Ireland Funds Monaco supports the work of the Princess Grace Irish Library
and The Ireland Funds Monaco Writers Bursary which provides Irish writers
and academics with one-month residencies at the Library to pursue current writing and research projects.
The Ireland Funds Worldwide
The Ireland Funds’ mission is to harness the power of a global philanthropic network of friends of Ireland to promote and support peace, culture, education and community development across the island of Ireland and among Irish communities around the world.
