Listen to Bono's song dedicated to Charlie Bird ahead of his Croagh Patrick climb

Charlie Bird says he is in disbelief over ‘outstanding gesture’ from Bono

Charlie Bird. Images (left) from @charliebird49 and (right) by Niall O'Loughlin

U2 frontman Bono has released a special recording dedicated to veteran broadcaster Charlie Bird as he embarks on his Climb With Charlie campaign.

The song, Crazy Mountain, got its world's first preview on Friday's The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1. Following the preview release, the song will be made available on the Climb With Charlie social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Speaking about Bono’s gesture, Charlie said: “I am overjoyed and could not believe the message that I received from Bono.”

The former RTÉ News correspondent was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease last year, after noticing issues with his speech.

As part of the broadcast, listeners heard Charlie’s new cloned voice as he introduced the song himself.

Charlie said: “I got a little emotional listening to this song but in a way they were tears of happiness.”

Charlie first met Bono in Washington DC when Bono was involved in a series of humanitarian visits to the US government. At the time, Charlie was RTÉ’s Washington correspondent.

Raising awareness regarding his campaign, Bird also urged people to “log on to climbwithcharlie.ie and donate what they can or set up their own fundraisers to climb in their local area, be it climbing a set of stairs or a short walk around the house, around a local park, a walk to the beach, whatever you are able to do”.

“Climb With Charlie is a nationwide initiative to recognise the huge physical and emotional mountains so many of us have to climb in our daily lives”.

Charlie Bird is due to embark on this challenge on April 2. However, due to Covid-19, health & safety and environmental works, Croagh Patrick is unable to accomodate large numbers so Charlie is encouraging people to walk or climb in their local area.

All funds raised by the campaign will go to the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Pieta House.