Jonathan Irwin
Sunday January 06 2008
Jonathan Irwin gave up a glittering career in the bloodstock industry to run a charity. Not that the ex-Goffs boss is a saint -- he would be horrified at that thought.
Irwin left the horsey world in the early Nineties after a clash with banker Michael Dargan who had become chairman of Goffs. At the time Jonathan was barely 50.
He and his wife Mary Ann O'Brien set up the Jack and Jill Foundation, a children's charity, after a traumatic personal experience. The charity provides early intervention for sick children from birth to four years old where the State has failed to step in.
Over its 10-year life, the foundation has handled over 900 cases and currently has 264 children on the books. Outgoings exceed €100,000 a month. This year he has set himself a target of €2.6m, an eight per cent hike on his 2007 €2.4m target which he beat.
Running a charity in Kildare is a long way from the life of an Old Etonian, once upon a time CEO of the Phoenix Park racecourse, who lists chic night spot Annabels in London's Berkeley Square as one of his clubs in Who's Who.
His only direct brush with commerce today is as a partner in his wife Mary Ann's Lily OBrien's chocolate business. But he is at pains to say that he is only a junior player in that family venture.
Along the way Irwin, now 66, managed to take on the chair of the Venues Committee in the Special Olympics and to be recognised as ESB Rehab Person of the Year.
- SHANE ROSS
