Irish Times, page 6

By Olivia Kelly

A charity auction featuring a painting by U2 singer Bono and a bronze sculpture from Alabama artist Nail Hollis has raised more than EUR200,000 for Amnesty and Goal.

The auction, which took place last Friday in the Killiney home of Olivia Gaynor and her partner, businessman Brian Long, a venture capitalist with Atlantic Bridge Ventures and the founder of Parthus Technologies, was attended by 300 invited guests.

While Ms Gaynor said that she was not at liberty to reveal the sums raised from the sale of individual pieces or the names of buyers, it is understood that the main money-raising piece of the auction was the sculpture by the artist known professionally only as Nail.

The piece, a bronze sculpture of a dove titled Violata Pax Dove, is a handheld version of a carsized piece which was installed in Assisi in 2006, outside the basilica of St Francis.

Bono's painting, Peter and the Wolf, is also understood to have raised significant funds for the two charities.

Other items in the sale included four VIP tickets for next year's Monaco Grand Prix, a trip for two to the Sandy Lane hotel in Barbados and a stay at a luxury villa in a choice of destinations around the world.

Ms Gaynor said yesterday that she was delighted with the results of the auction.

"We had hoped to reach the EUR100,000 mark, but we were shocked when we realised we had more than doubled that amount.

"There was a lovely atmosphere and obviously a really great result from the night," she said.

All proceeds will be split between Amnesty and Goal, Ms Gaynor said.