The Children’s Medical & Research Foundation, the fundraising arm of Crumlin children’s hospital, will honour some of its top contributors from the world of business at a gala dinner at Trinity College tonight.

These contributors include Dermot Smurfit of Powerflute, London developer Crohan O'Shea, Dick Connolly, one of the top stockbrokers in the US, and Charlie McCabe, a former Chase banker who co-founded the New York marathon.

McCabe, a stalwart of the Irish-American establishment (even if he once made a funny faux pas by comparing Michael D Higgins with a leprechaun), got involved with Crumlin when he won a golf holiday to the old sod in the 1980s. The hospital's then chief executive convinced McCabe to pay it a visit and, like Connolly, he has been raising cash for it in the US for the decades since.

“It does great work. Business should do everything it can to help causes like that,” McCabe told me.

Hear hear.