The one day that people all over the globe associate with Ireland is St Patrick’s Day. The British may have had the largest Empire, but there is no similar day associated with them.

THURSDAY, International Women’s Day 2007, began without the sounds of Trócaire’s Lenten campaign on the airwaves of commercial radio stations.

The Trócaire charity says it plans to lodge a submission with the Broadcasting Commission today challenging a ban on ads for its annual Lenten campaign.

In a deliberate attempt to initiate a much-needed debate Archbishop Diarmuid Martin launched his annual Lenten pastoral letter yesterday by emphasising the damage to society being caused by excessive drinking. The launch appropriately took place in O’Connell Street, Dublin, at the statue of Fr Theobald Mathew, the internationally famous 19th century temperance campaigner.

PUBLIC donations to Trócaire reached an all-time high last year raising almost €84 million for disaster-hit areas around the world.

This year's annual Lenten Trócaire campaign will focus on the African nation of Ethiopia, where a famine claimed half a million lives 20 years ago.

Irish aid agency Trócaire has appealed for funds for the native Maya people of Guatemala as part of its 2003 Lenten campaign.