Drop in income forces Concern to make 10 of its staff redundant

THE largest Irish aid agency, Concern Worldwide, has made 10 staff redundant and closed the development education department at its headquarters in Dublin.

The cutbacks are the result of, falling income in recent years, a trend the agency says it expects, will continue. All the redundancies, which affect Concern's offices in Dublin, London and Belfast, were voluntary.

The organisation is currently selecting a new chief executive to succeed Father Aengus Finucane, who retires next April after 16 years in the job. It is expected, however, that he will maintain his links with the agency, possibly by acting as a fund raiser in North America.

As part of an internal planning review, Concern is looking at devolving headquarters functions to regional offices in the developing world. Staffing in Ireland has been reduced from 69 to 56, and the developing education and marketing departments have been merged.

Other Irish agencies have been forced to cut back as a result of declining income. Last autumn, GOAL shed 42 of its 107 overseas workers and closed offices in seven countries.

Concern's overall income fell from £45 million in 1994 - when the Rwandan crisis was at its height - to £30 million in 1995. Figures for 1996 are not available.

Mr Paddy Maguinness, the agency's deputy chief executive, said the cutbacks are a "strategic adjustment" to long term trends. Concern's revenue from donations dropped to £6.7 million in 1995, down from £13.5 million the previous year. Mr Maguinness said donations in 1996 were "on target".

An internal strategy document blames the fall in income on a decline of altruism in society self benefit is now more often cited as the reason for giving money to a charity.

Coupled with this is the absence of a large scale emergency capable of capturing the public interest, such as that seen in Rwanda in 1994, or Ethiopia and Somalia in the 1980s. Aid agencies everywhere feel most western governments and media have turned their backs on the problems of the developing world.

These problems are compounded by a slump in official aid to non governmental organisations (NGOs) in almost every western country except Ireland.

While Irish Government funding accounted for less than 10 per cent of Concern's income in 1995, the United Nations provided 40 per cent, or £12.5 million. However, the UN is going through a serious funding crisis, and the British government, another important source of funds for Concern, is cutting back its official development assistance.

In 1995, Concern employed 174 expatriates overseas and more than 5,000 local staff. The organisation grew out of Irish missionary involvement in the Biafran conflict in 1968.