NORMA SMURFIT, philanthropist and charity campaigner
What's the Spring Clean For Charity about?We've asked people to de-clutter their houses. To give us their books, clothes, trinkets. Anything they no longer have any use for. The donated items are going on sale in the RDS tomorrow, with all proceeds going to St Vincent de Paul and Focus Ireland.
It's a car boot sale?We've asked 100 ladies to take a stall. They've asked their friends, families and local businesses to donate too. Tomorrow , each of our ladies will be coming along and working jolly hard to sell everything.
So it's sort of a rich people's car boot sale?Yes, it's great fun. Last year we had people queuing up at 6am to get in. There must have been 100,000 items, so everyone was searching for treasure: a Fabergé egg, or a lost Yeats painting. That hasn't happened yet, but there are lots of bargains. We try to start at, say, €20. By the end of the day, we're giving things away for €1 or €2. Last year someone donated these lovely ceramic chickens. I remember thinking, oh, they look nice.
Did you slip them into your handbag when no one was looking?No, I paid for them, of course. I also picked up a silver platter and some brass candlesticks. I don't know why someone gave those away. But literally anything you can think of is for sale: books, records, DVDs, even videos.
What happens to the stuff nobody wants?Anything that isn't sold goes back to St Vincent de Paul to be sold in their shops around the country. Nothing gets thrown away. It's tough out there. St Vincent de Paul is struggling to deal with the number of people who lost their homes, lost their savings, people who would once never have dreamt they'd need that kind of help. And of course, Focus Ireland has always had the problem of homelessness to deal with.
During the boom years, your annual charity ball in Marbella attracted lots of the high rollers of that era. That must have been fun?Oh, they were great. They were very glamorous, Marbella was lovely and warm and people were just throwing money at us. We would have auctions. People would buy things and throw them back into the pot and we would auction them again. Looking back, it was all a bit silly. But those balls brought in a lot of money and the charities benefited.
We hear a lot about the poor in a recession. How are the filthy rich coping?People are cutting back. They're not being ridiculously extravagant in the way they once were. On the other hand, you do have to spend something to keep the economy going, to keep people working. I make a point of buying Irish. In terms of fundraising, we're careful about who we ask and what we ask them for. With this event, we're not asking for money. We're asking for things people don't have any use for anymore.
Where you ever tempted to say, look, I'll write a cheque but I refuse to sell Joe Dolan albums out of a cardboard box?Well, I do write cheques. People come to me and I write cheques all the time. But I love getting my hands dirty. The people I would take my hat off to are the other women taking out stalls. I know, we have to cajole them a small bit. But they're all genuinely concerned about what's going on in the country and anxious to help anyway they can. After all, many of us came from nothing to begin with.
I know you come from East End working class stock yourself. Did I read somewhere that you grew up reading the 'Daily Worker'?Oh yes, very much so. My family were very left wing, very involved in trade unions.
Has that influenced all of your philanthropic efforts down through the years? Or is it just something to do?It's been hugely influential. I've always been very concerned with people's rights and people's working conditions. That was instilled in me at a young age. I think it's in my DNA. I love organising. I love getting involved. I know people have busy lives, but if they can come out tomorrow to support this event it will make a huge difference to the charities involved.
Spring Clean For Charity takes place in the RDS, Dublin tomorrow from 11am to 5pm. Admission €5
