Workers across the State are being asked to give as they earn by donating an hour of their wages to help raise money for disadvantaged Irish children.

The Children's Hour initiative will take place in the final months of this year. Organisers hope that between September 1st and December 31st, the 1.5 million members of the workforce will pull together to raise an estimated £10 million in support of a variety of children's causes.

"The concept is simple in that we are asking people to donate just one hour's worth of their earnings before the end of this millennium so that they can help the children of the next," says Children's Hour project director, Mr Paul Keogh.

The slogan for the initiative is "Give an hour, Change a Millennium" and similar campaigns are already under way in 14 countries around the world including Australia, the US, Germany and Britain. The Irish version of Children's Hour was set up by Mr Bill Cullen, founder of the Irish Youth Foundation. The businessman, who holds the Renault franchise in Ireland, came across the project when exploring millennium fundraising initiatives with the International Youth Foundation in Baltimore, USA.

So far eight charities have been nominated as beneficiaries including Temple Street Children's Hospital, Focus Ireland and Barnardos but more than 100 children's groups are set to benefit.

"Every single penny will go to children to improve their lives in areas such as health, education, culture and poverty. Charities have to come up with specific projects that will be completed with the money donated from the campaign. Funds will not just go back into charities to pay for administration costs or advertising campaigns," says Mr Keogh.

The initiative has already been endorsed by the employers body, IBEC, and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The Children's Hour committee, which includes Mr Maurice Pratt of Tesco, Ms Bernie Gallagher of the Doyle Hotel Group and Lottery chairman Mr John Hynes, is now beginning to mobilise businesses to get involved in the project.

Getting big employers behind the campaign is crucial in order to ensure that donations can be deducted straight from the payroll and added to the Children's Hour fund. It is hoped that Children's Hour "champions" will be appointed in each firm to co-ordinate the wage donations.

Alternatively, workers will be asked to make individual contributions using special Children's Hour direct-debit forms which organisers plan to have available in financial institutions.

The four months between September and December allocated for donations has been structured so that the generosity of various sectors is set to come under scrutiny, adding an interesting twist to Children's Hour.

Each sector is being asked to donate its hour's wages during specific weeks of the four-month GAYE (give as you earn) period.

Week one has been designated for the retail sector, for example, while week six is for catering and week 14 for those involved in the media. If the tribunals are still running, week 16 should prove extremely profitable as it is the week when those in the legal profession will be asked to donate an hour of their wages.

The hour's wages donated will be after-tax and if the campaign is a success Government coffers stand to be further filled from this charitable exercise.

Finance Minister, Mr McCreevy, has responded by allocating £250,000 from the National Lottery Beneficiary Fund to finance the administration of the project. In addition, some of the funds raised will be used to set up a Government-supported children's trust, an endowment policy for children, that will continue after the once off Children's Hour project has ended.

Despite research released this week which shows that Irish people give less to charity now, the organisers of Children's Hour are relying on the novelty appeal of the campaign and have set a target of £10 million. They are confident that Children's Hour will become the biggest fundraising initiative to be held in this country since Live Aid.

"If everyone who works in Ireland gives just one hour's wages we will raise the most money that has ever been collected by a charity here," said Mr Cullen.

For further information on The Children's Hour, phone 1850 311299.