Cuppa focail

The great and the good will all be found downing gallons of the brown stuff next Thursday as part of the Irish Hospice Foundation…

The great and the good will all be found downing gallons of the brown stuff next Thursday as part of the Irish Hospice Foundation's world's biggest coffee morning.

Coffee-lovers will be hard pressed to choose from the two most high profile events in this year's coffee calendar. The Commons Restaurant in St Stephen's Green in Dublin is planning a celebrity-studded get-together while Tanaiste Mary Harey has invited 600 politicians and captains of industry to join her at nearby Fitzer's Restaurant.

The Commons could prove controversial, with Pat Kenny and Eamon Dunphy both on the guest list. Invitations have also been despatched to Dave Fanning and Ursula Courtney, Gerry and Morah Ryan, Harry and Rita Crosbie, Robbie Wootton and Gavin and Tony O'Reilly jnr.

Mary Harney will be receiving politicians from across the board, with all hatchets being buried for the fundraising morning. Hospice chairwoman Marie Donnelly will be there too.

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All over the country, in fact, people will be getting out their best mugs. Niamh Sheerin of Hospice estimates that at least 5,000 separate coffee-fests will be held. Aided by Bewley's, these will take place in venues as diverse as Garda stations, banks and shopping centres. Four thousand people are set to gather in Dublin airport while computer company Intel is hoping to raise a bundle for this very worthy cause by laying on coffee for their 3,000 staff.