The Ireland Fund of Monaco has been promoting Hiberno-Monegasque relations for seven years, the last two years of which have been very rewarding. The Ireland Fund of Monaco is proud to announce a very special event; the inauguration of the Princess Grace Humanitarian Award on September 18th at a Gala Dinner in the Hotel de Paris, Monte-Carlo. Princess Grace is Ireland’s favourite daughter remembered with deep respect and enormous affection.
The Princess Grace Humanitarian Award was conceived to acknowledge and celebrate the achievement of an outstanding Irish person with an award carrying the name of Her Royal Highness. By definition this would become one of the most prized awards Irish people could aspire to.
The winner of the first award is Mr. Bill Cullen and we have invited a member of the ruling family to present this prestigious prize of €20,000 together with the superb limited edition sculpture by the renowned artist Kees Verkade. Bill Cullen is the Director of the Irish Youth Foundation which raises £1 million a year for youth projects in Ireland. Bill was one of fourteen children born in the inner tenements of Dublin to a working class family. In spite of leaving school at 13 to work on the steets he managed to forge a career in the automobile industry which culminated in the position of Chairman and owner of Renault Ireland. His best-selling autobiography “It’s a long way from Penny Apples” retraces his life from his beginnings as a little boy in the slums of Dublin to becoming one of Ireland’s most inspirational business leaders.
