Response is a real tribute to Irish

CONCERN Worldwide and Trócaire would like to pay a joint tribute to the Irish public this Christmas for the remarkable response to the east Africa emergency appeal.

It is a source of great pride to us domestically, as well as internationally, that the Irish people have continued with a generous spirit of giving, despite being embroiled in one of the worst financial crises the country has ever known.

The Irish public donated a total of €15 million to fund Concern and Trócaire’s emergency relief in east Africa. In addition, we were extremely grateful to receive a further €3.3m from Irish Aid. These donations allowed us to deliver life-saving aid to over 1.1m people in the region — a figure that could not have been reached if it wasn’t for the generosity of the Irish people.

In July, when we, together with Oxfam, invited Mary Robinson to join us in east Africa, we knew that by working in unison, Concern and Trócaire stood a better chance of mobilising widespread public support by focusing the media’s attention on the crisis.

Personally bearing witness to the catastrophic event of famine had a tremendous impact on us both. The resulting headlines, images and footage stand as a shocking testament to the scale of the suffering that was endured, and we felt it our particular duty as chief executives of Ireland’s two largest aid organisations to sound the alarm with the sort of directness and honesty we felt the crisis demanded. We are extremely grateful to Mary Robinson for joining us in Somalia. Her status internationally was of vital importance in securing support for our respective organisations’ work on the ground.

Following on from this visit, we have continued to work together so that we can maximise the impact of donations from the Irish public. We are united by a shared mandate to save lives and protect people from hunger and disease during times of emergency.

The highest level of aid efficiency is what the Irish people have demanded, and we would like to take this opportunity to guarantee them our joint commitment in continuing to deliver effective programmes in the future.

Tom Arnold, Chief executive, Concern Worldwide

Justin Kilcullen, Director, Trócaire