Home charities lose out after public response to tsunami
Following the overwhelming response from the Irish people to the Asia tsunami, Irish-based organisations say they are losing out because the public is giving all its spare cash to victims of the catastrophe.
Some Irish charities that help people here have decided to cancel their annual appeals because people have already donated enough to the tsunami appeals.
Public donations are expected to reach €50m, making Ireland one of the most generous countries.
Children's charity Barnardos says it has decided to defer its annual appeal to allow the public to focus its contributions on helping people in south-east Asia.
“It's understandable that people want to help out the victims in Asia, and it is something that we would want to encourage,” said chief executive Owen Keenan, “but obviously a major international catastrophe that everybody feels driven to donate to can have an impact on charities in Ireland”.
