Bono and his wife Ali sitting in the Dail public gallery last year during a speech being delivered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. RollingNews.ie photo.
By Irish Echo Staff
Irish people will be hoping that this time Bono finds what he's searching for.
The U2 front man has reached out to South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, and corporate titans including Apple’s Tim Cook, to help find personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies for Ireland’s health service.
According to reports, Moon’s office tweeted on Sunday that it had received a letter from Bono and that the president’s spokesman, Kang Min-suk, would respond in writing. The tweet noted that Bono had been nominated for the Nobel peace prize. The rock star met South Korea’s president last December after performing in the country.
South Korea makes PPE and other medical kit that many countries are seeking to combat Covid-19. Ireland has buying PPE from China but needs more for the current Covid-19 and for the weeks and months ahead.
In addition to Moon and Cook, Bono has contacted Jack Ma, the head of the Chinese retailer Alibaba, Marc Benioff of the software giant Salesforce, and Doug McMillon of Walmart.
“I just don’t think this is the moment for U2 to be doing a sort of Kumbaya thing. It just doesn’t feel right for me – it feels like a time for action rather than words,” Bono told the Irish Times, which described the collaboration as an example of Ireland’s “soft power" in the world.
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