Ireland has 17 billionaires, a number Oxfam describes as "disproportionately high" - behind only Hong Kong, Cyprus, Switzerland and Singapore in terms of the number of billionaires relative to the population.

Oxfam will accept everything from Christmas jumpers and novelty socks, to unopened cosmetic sets, books, jewellery and homeware.

Oxfam has called for swifter action against tax avoidance by multinationals after its research showed pharmaceutical firms used Irish tax law to reduce the amount of corporation tax they paid — to zero in one case.

The ministers, including Paschal Donohoe, are meeting in Brussels today and will be discussing the fallout from the so-called Paradise Papers.

A major international leak of more than 13 million files - known as the Paradise Papers - reveal how the super-rich invest vast amounts of money in offshore tax havens.

Restrictions on reuniting refugees with loved ones are “creating mentally-ill children of the future”, senators have warned.

Kerry furniture designer Tricia Harris stretched the idea of a ‘room outside’ to an entire house at this year’s Bloom festival that opens today.

Oxfam Ireland is entering formal discussions with GOAL on a potential merger, it has emerged today.

The Department of Finance was wrong to claim the European Commission misinterpreted Irish tax laws over the Apple tax scandal, a minister has conceded yesterday.

It is thought Yemen is a few months away from running out of food for its whole population.

Almost €1.3 million was paid in fines into the court poor box in 2015.

The Egyptian ambassador has declined an invitation to appear before an Oireachtas committee and discuss the ongoing detention of Irish teenager Ibrahim Halawa in a Cairo jail.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

Irish development organisations have dismissed the European Commission’s latest attempt to crackdown on global tax avoidance as a “woefully inadequate” token gesture.

THE only two certainties we have are death and taxes, so the saying goes.

Growing inequality means that the world’s 62 wealthiest people own as much as the poorest half of the planet’s population — approximately 3.6 billion people — according to a new report from Oxfam.

A landmark decision that two iconic multinationals, Fiat and Starbucks, avoided paying their fair share of tax, facilitated by the Luxembourg and Dutch authorities, respectively, may be appealed to the European Court of Justice.

Aid agencies and rights groups have accused the Government of shutting them out of efforts to tackle the refugee crisis.

Pressure is growing on the Government to act immediately to take in refugees risking death to reach mainland Europe instead of waiting for instructions to come from the EU.

Overseas charities were the biggest recipients of the €2.18m paid by offenders to the court poor box, according to figures compiled by the Courts Service.

A quick look at some of the more interesting news from the heart of the EU

Around 100 Irish people in Nepal were affected by the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that ravaged the region at the weekend.

GOAL has dispatched an emergency response team to Nepal to support relief efforts following the worst earthquake to hit the country in 80 years.

Oxfam is calling on the Taoiseach to help drive discussion about tackling global inequality.

The richest 1% of people in the world will have more wealth than all the rest of us combined by next year if the current inequality trend continues, a new report from Oxfam has suggested.

An unwanted present could prove welcome elsewhere, according to a charity that is asking recipients to donate.

The Government has pledged an extra €2m to assist South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia, following a renewed intensity of violence there.

The world faces a "very high risk of severe, widespread and irreversible" impacts from climate change without action to cut emissions, a major international report has warned.

In this week’s column, Kehlan looks at women in business and why feminism needs to stage a comeback.

Calls have been made for the international community to put pressure on Israel to lift the seven-year blockade on Gaza.

On this week’s Q&A, Jim Clarkin from Oxfam Ireland talks about its recently released report showing the gender pay gap will take nearly 75 years to reach parity if current trends continue.

Women in the world’s major G20 economies will have to wait 75 years to earn as much as men, according to an Oxfam report published yesterday.

Nine out of 10 people are less trusting of charities as a direct result of the ongoing Rehab and Central Remedial Clinic scandals — with one in four existing donors cancelling payments since the crisis emerged.

Ireland has pledged another €5m to assist civilians affected by the Syrian crisis.

Victims of crime will benefit most from a government decision to scrap the poor box and instead have offenders pay into a centralised fund.

Some of the country’s leading charities claim donations have fallen by as much as 40% because of public fears about where the money might end up as a result of the top-up scandal at Central Remedial Clinic.

Some €2m was collected through the poor boxes of the country's courts in 2012.

Two of the country’s leading charities spent €500,000 on their Christmas gifts radio advertising campaigns in 2013.

Ireland has sent another 16 tonnes of life-saving supplies to the Philippines.

A surgeon to the stars, a humanitarian, a business leader, and a pioneering dental researcher who has inspired a generation of dentists, are to be honoured by their university for making their mark on the world stage.