The Irish ultra-wealthy are very familiar with giving already, according to O'Connor.

Educating the mere millionaires and multimillionaires is the next step. "A lot of the money is new, and people need to know it is not going away. The learning curve in the US is shorter, but I think Ireland will catch up very quickly. Ireland is 10 or 15 years behind, but I think it will take five or less to catch up."

Niall O'Sullivan, of fundraising consultancy Campaign Solutions, estimates that up to 100 1m-plus donations to charity have been made in Ireland. "We're only scratching the surface, " he said. "There are a lot of business sales out there, a lot of new millionaires coming on-stream all the time."

There is a well-documented "reactive generosity" in Ireland, said O'Connor, who previously worked with the American Ireland fund in New York. "The next focus is to give more strategically."

From the Ireland Inc perspective, philanthropic activity by the likes of Chuck Feeney's Atlantic Philanthropies is becoming increasingly important for universities. UL's Kemmy Business School was funded by a contribution from an anonymous donor believed to be JP McManus.

Ireland is still nowhere near the US in terms of planned philanthropy such as endowment funds, and O'Connor forecasts that philanthropy will really start to take off once it is recognised in Ireland that such activity can also bring business bonuses.

"What it should get to is that it becomes a big business network. If you look at the donors I had in the American Ireland fund in New York, the amount going on around the fringes is amazing. There would be a huge number of deals done around the edges of our events."

The government has made some changes to encourage philanthropy. This year, for example, it introduced tax breaks for contributing shares to charity. One change O'Connor sees as essential to boost philanthropy in Ireland is greater regulation of the charity sector. "Until the sector is regulated enough that you know which are deserving of that status, it is hard to give blanket tax relief."