Deirdre O’Kane has opened up about what inspired her to spearhead a Comic Relief charity gig in the 3Arena.
The gig is taking place on St. Patricks day, and is being organised to support a range of Irish and international causes for Comic Relief.
Goss.ie asked the comedian what inspired her to organise this event, “Watching the refugee crisis, which breaks my heart. Calais [refugee camp] was being dispanded at the time and we were all consumed with it and talking about it.”
Comic Relief: Deirdre and Darren Smith are spearheading the first Irish Comic Relief gig | VIPIRELAND.COM
The stand-up comic continued, “I guess there just reaches a point when we said we’ve got to do something. I can’t stand by and watch this much longer.
“And when you’re in a position to do something, I think it would be criminal not to.”
The gathering at 3Arena is the very first Irish event in support of Comic Relief, and Deirdre revealed that half of the profits will go to foreign aid, and half will stay in Ireland.
“We decided because of so many crises of our own like the homelessness, that we would split the money. So 50% of what we raise will go to foreign aid, and 50% of the money will stay in Ireland.”
Top Comedians: Ireland’s top comedians will take part in the gig on St. Patricks Day | BRIAN MCEVOY
Goss.ie then asked the Louth native whether she was inspired by the Apollo House occupation which was supported by Glen Hansard.
“Absolutely. I’m very pro revolution – peaceful revolution. It was really inspiring I mean they achieved an awful lot.
“They shone a huge light on the issue and I think for the people who are homeless it gave them an awful lot of dignity and it poured a lot of love their way.”
Inspiring: Deirdre was inspired by the Apollo House occupation | VIPIRELAND.COM
The narrator of Gogglebox Ireland also said that she believes that Apollo House showed that people want to help homelessness.
“It just showed that’s what the people want. People do not want people to be homeless on our streets, we want to help them.
“It’s not because it’s an eyesore or it’s an inconvenience, we have great empathy, we are a very empathetic nation. We don’t want to see people struggling like that.”
Watch our full interview with Deirdre below:
