€68m bill for looking after one of our minorities — our richest 400

IS Denis O’Brien an eejit? He couldn’t be, could he? This is a man who has made hundreds of millions of pounds from spotting a major gap in the marketplace and from developing a company to plug that gap.

Tue, 28 Oct, 2003 - 00:00

Fergus Finlay

Fergus Finlay is a former political activist and adviser to three governments, the former head of the children's charity Barnardos, a writer and a broadcaster.

He's an ideas man, a fast mover, clearly very determined and focused. And very rich.

People who worked with him during the Special Olympics (and I'm one of them) also know that he is both generous and committed. He has highly-developed humanitarian instincts and isn't in any sense slow to put his money where his mouth is. Apart from his public acts of generosity, he has done a lot of good privately.