It's an unusual alliance - Vision Ireland, an information services group, and Focus Ireland, the charity for the homeless - but each year their art sale in Dublin Castle brings them together. On Wednesday evening, people from the business world snapped up paintings by the likes of Marie Louise Martin, director of the Blackchurch Studio, and Arthur Gibney, president of the RHA, in aid of the charity.
The Minister for Arts, Sile de Valera, the guest of honour, was escorted by her new special adviser, RTE's former economic correspondent Michael Ronayne, on one of his first official outings in his new job. RTE's Mike Murphy, who is looking forward to a summer holiday in Florida, bought a new work of art; his daughter, Carol Murphy, who works with Norma Smurfit's Famine Commemoration charity, was also there, along with Peter Vallely.
Senator David Norris played the role of auctioneer, helping Sister Stanislaus Kennedy raise more than £10,000 for a new housing project.