WITH INJURY HAVING ruled him out of last weekend’s Six Nations clash with Scotland, Irish captain Paul O’Connell was available for selection at the annual rugby luncheon hosted by Leslie Buckley’s Haiti charity, Haven.

O’Connell has signed up as an ambassador for Haven, and was the star turn at the lunch, which looked to raise €30,000 for a trip in May by 45 volunteers to build houses in the Caribbean state. O’Connell said he was “extremely excited” to be involved with Haven and plans to travel to Haiti in the near future. Buckley must be equally chuffed. Signing up the affable and articulate former Lions captain should help Buckley in his efforts to persuade Ireland’s corporate community to open their wallets for Haiti.

Fleishman-Hillard has won European Public Affairs Consultancy of the Year. FH is led in Europe by Irishman John Saunders, who commutes between Dublin and London. Its main public-affairs hub is Brussels, where Mayo native Michelle Gibbons is deputy managing director.

Separately, pharma giant Novartis has won a investor relations award from Intitutional Investor magazine. The glow off this reflects on the investor relations team at FTI Consulting in Dublin, led by Mark Kenny, which advised Novartis on its global programme.