It's been a good news week for U2, their Irish iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE shows have been getting rave reviews.
While we, as a nation, might like to engage in the odd bit of Bono bashing - and we've all been given detailed breakdowns of their current cosy Dutch tax set up - let's remember some of the good times.
Self Aid (1986)
Less than 12 months after Live Aid Ireland decided to have it's own benefit concert - Self Aid.
It raised money for a job trust to combat spiralling unemployment and featured U2 in their post-Unforgettable Fire / pre-Joshua Tree pomp.
"I don't know what it's like to be out of work. What it's like to be unemployed. Since I was 16 I got to join this group - I'm 26 now," Bono told the RDS crowd.
"But there's you out there - a lot of you know what it's like. Well let me say this country belongs to you just as much as it belongs to RTE - just as much as it belongs to CIE - or ESB - or AIB - or the Bank of Ireland," he continued inbetween 'Pride (In the Name of Love)' and 'Sunday Bloody Sunday.'
The set also featured a sprawling take on Bob Dylan's 'Maggie's Farm.'
Campaigning against Sellafield
In the early nineties the band threw their weight behind Green Peace's campaign to close the Sellafield nuclear plant on the west coast of England.
This video shows them taking time out from the Zoo TV tour in 1992 to visit a Greenpeace ship in the Irish Sea and to pose for the media by the plant.
The night before they performed alongside Public Enemy and Kraftwerk at the 'Stop Sellafield' concert in Manchester.
Ali Hewson was a prominent orgainiser in subsequent campaigns which culminated in the sending of more than one million postcards to the then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair by Irish households in 2002.
Bailing out Branson
In May of 1990 the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) approached Virgin Megastore to ask if they would allow them to sell condoms in their Dublin outlet - defying laws restricting the sale of contraception in Ireland.
In May of that year the IFPA were convicted for taking this action - and Virgin was fined £400.
The chain appealed the ruling with Richard Branson appearing in court in Dublin. The fine was subsequently increased to £500 but U2 stepped in to pick up the tab.
These rules around the sale of condoms remained in place until 1993 - Richard Branson wrote a blog post reflecting on the incident in the wake of the death of Savita Halappanavar.
Music Generation
If you have been to, or are heading along to, any of U2's Irish shows then some of your money is going towards funding Music Generation - a music education project which hopes to provide music tuition to Irish children.
All of the profits from these concerts are being given to the initiative which provides music classes, equipment and facilities to some 26,000 kids around the country.
The gigs are expected to raise €2m. U2 did the same thing when they played Croke Park in 2009, giving €5m to the foundation which they co-fund with The Ireland Funds, The Department of Education and Skills and Local Music Education Partnerships.
Christmas Eve busking on Grafton Street
The annual(ish) tradition of Bono, Glen Hansard, and whoever else is knocking around busking on Grafton Street on Christmas Eve has helped to raise money to help the Simon Community to fight homelessness - and it's also brightened up thousands of people's Christmases.
Keep your eyes open if you're in the city doing some last minute shopping...
