Father Aengus Finucane is to retire as chief executive of the relief agency Concern at the end of April. He has held the post since 1981. He first went to Africa as a Holy Ghost missionary in 1960 and helped to set up Concern during the Binfran conflict in 1968.
The chairman of Concern, Mr Tom Arnold, said yesterday that Father Finucane had shown a "huge commitment to improving the life of the poorest people in developing countries".