"I want to thank the country for putting up with my sometimes avuncular self."
Bono has revealed that U2 purchased €10million of PPE for Ireland's frontline workers. In an interview on this morning's Ryan Tubridy show on RTÉ Radio 1, the singer detailed what he called his "national service".
He said that the band had wanted to play their part in the fight against Covid-19, and after receiving a call from Finance Minister Paschal Donohue they concentrated their efforts on purchasing PPE.
Bono said that due to their work with the One and RED charitable foundations, which work to fight HIV, the band had connections in supply markets that they were able to utilise to secure a supply of protective equipment.
He said that there were a lot of countries being "pushed out of the way" when it came to buying PPE, and that he had made calls to contacts in China, in companies such as Ali Baba, in order to ensure that Ireland would be top of the list.
As a result, U2 secured an order that included 20million mass, 100,000 goggles, 100,000 visors and 30,000 gowns for us bey the HSE.
The singer said that the band a "a little funny' about public philanthropy because it can be seen as self promotion, but they wanted to do their part to thank the country that had "allowed" them to be in a position to afford it.
"It's a small contribution, but we could just about afford it so we did," he said.
Ryan Tubridy revealed that Bono will be 60 on Saturday, and the singer said that he will be marking the day by taking a walk with his family as now is not the tie for a big celebration. "People are giving up a lot more than their birthdays," he said.
Giving a glimpse into his family life, Bono said that he had been scolded for not doing enough Hoovering and for not making the beds right in recent weeks. He also said that his son John, a sixth year student, was on edge waiting to hear about the fate of the Leaving Cert exams.
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