# U2 gave music charity €5 million

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/01/23/u2-gave-music-charity-e5-million/
- Published: 2013-01-23T09:21:27+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**U2 gave the €5 million profit from their concerts in 2009 to a music charity, 
their manager has told the Irish Times.**

[U2](http://www.u2.com) manager Paul McGuinness said profits from their three Croke
Park concerts in Dublin in 2009 were donated to [Music Generation](http://www.musicgeneration.ie),
a charity that provides funding for music education in Ireland.

Mr McGuinness said it had been the band’s practice “going way, way back” to give
the profits away but it “was discreetly done in the past.”

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Support for Music Generation came after the Irish government said it could not afford
to fund the project. The band provided €5 million with an extra €2 million coming
from The Ireland Funds, including a $1 million donation (€760,000) from Bank of 
America.

The Government will co-fund Music Generation from 2014 with a view to taking over
the funding of the project in 2016. The Irish Times said 5,000 children have benefited
from Music Generation either through structured lessons or through the buying of
instruments.

U2 guitarist the Edge said they supported the project because they had been helped
by music education during their school days.

www.irishtimes.com

_Photo: [TexKap on Flickr.com](http://www.flickr.com/photos/texkap/4027574635)_

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