YOUNG, vibrant, enthusiastic and rarin’ to go.

AN Irish Examiner survey of the pay packages earned by the heads of leading charities shows most are on salaries ranging from €100,000 to €150,000.

WITH a reputation for generosity that puts us ahead of many of our international counterparts, the Irish public is not shy when it comes to supporting good causes.

DAVID NORRIS has not approached Fianna Fáil to seek backing for any re-launch of his presidential bid, Micheál Martin insisted yesterday.

I’M still seething, nearly a week later.

Kerins is reported to receive a salary package upwards of €400,000.....How can the public continue to have confidence in Rehab? The service it provides is beyond reproach, but what are people handing over money for?

Trocaire kicks off its annual Lenten campaign today.

PRO-DEMOCRACY leader Aung San Suu Kyi reached out to Burma’s splintered opposition forces yesterday, as she addressed thousands of exuberant supporters following her release from years of house arrest.

ANTI-POVERTY activist Bob Geldof last night called for an end to the casino culture in the banks.

JUSTIN Kilcullen of Trócaire has severely chastised the Government for “reneging” on its commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP per annum on international aid – a target set by the UN a decade ago.

Trócaire has called for the introduction of a tax on financial institutions to help eradicate global poverty.

FORMER Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald is heading a campaign to push the Government to honour its commitments on overseas aid despite the recession.

THURSDAY, February 25, was the first time in a year that an EU foreign minister entered the besieged Gaza strip.

TRÓCAIRE has said projects in at least 23 countries will have to be curtailed or scrapped ahead of possible cuts by Government to Overseas Development Aid.

THE country’s most senior Church figure yesterday directly appealed to the Government not to cut Ireland’s overseas aid to developing countries.

ON Thursday representatives of states from around the world will gather to sign an agreement aimed at strengthening the protection of economic, social and cultural rights for individuals.

WITH €7 million cuts in state funds and a €3m cut in public funding this year, aid agency Trócaire has been forced to pull out of four countries this year and to seek 27 redundancies in its Irish operations.

Fifty-seven jobs are expected to be lost at Trócaire, it was confirmed this afternoon.

EU countries including Ireland are cutting back on their aid to the developing world and some are even using creative accounting to cover the drop in money donated.

An open letter to the Minister for Finance, Mr Brian Lenihan TD

OVERSEAS aids agencies reacted with shock and horror at the €100 million cut in Ireland’s overseas aid budget announced by Brian Lenihan.

Irish aid agencies say the €100m worth of cuts to overseas aid announced in yesterday's Budget will have a devastating effect on projects in the developing world.

AS the Government prepares its mini-budget I would like to raise the issue of possible further cuts to Ireland’s overseas aid budget.

LEADING aid agencies last night accused the Government of hypocrisy as Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin defended the €95 million cut in overseas aid.

TRÓCAIRE has welcomed the Government’s decision to keep the allocation on overseas aid on track to reach the target of spending 0.7% of GNP on aid by 2012.

A WEEKEND will be set aside every year to commemorate the Great Famine and celebrate the contribution millions of Irish immigrants made around the world after fleeing starvation.

One of the country’s best known historical writers is among group of experts who will decide how to honour the million people who died in the Great Famine.

An Irish charity is accusing the international community of failing the people of Zimbabwe.

Bertie Ahern may be considering a career in humanitarian work.

The Government was today accused of failing to champion the basic human rights of the Palestinian people.

Cardinal Sean Brady today led a delegation of prominent clergymen to Israel.

Ireland's historic experience of famine has inspired the country to help tackle global poverty, U2 frontman Bono said today.

Ireland should boycott the 2008 Olympics in Beijing if China doesn’t use its influence on the political crisis in Burma, Trocaire said today.

SOME of the country’s leading aid agencies, environmental and community groups have made a combined call on all parties in the upcoming election to place the issue of climate change at the top of thepolitical agenda.

IT has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

A GROUP responsible for distributing €16 million this year to Irish organisations working in third world countries is under review by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

A leading Irish aid agency is to use the worldwide web to promote global human rights.

The aid agency Trócaire is refusing to take part in talks on humanitarian relief that are due to be held on a British warship in Dublin today.

The director of Trócaire has been elected president of an influential European body that represents more than 1,600 non-governmental orgainisations.

IRISH and African experts will examine development issues and the AIDS crisis in Africa as part of a major conference in Cork which starts today.

An exhibition to highlight the effects of the Irish public’s massive donations to the tsunami victims is set to open this week.

KOFI ANNAN must have had a feeling of déja vu in the UN building on Wednesday night when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pledged to meet the target for overseas aid.

The Government’s pledge to spend 0.7% of GNP on overseas aid by 2012 has proved people power works, Irish aid agencies claimed today.

IRELAND committed itself to giving €1.5 billion or 0.7% of GNP to tackle poverty in the world by 2012, trebling its contribution and becoming one of the first countries to achieve the UN goal.