Government funding to aid agency Concern is set to more than double, writes Mary Fitzgerald, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Under a new five-year programme, financial support provided by Irish Aid, the Department of Foreign Affairs' overseas aid division, will jump from just over €60 million - for the period 2003 to 2006 - to €148 million from 2007 to 2011.
The Minister of State with responsibility for overseas aid, Conor Lenihan, is due to announce the funding package at the national final of the Concern School Debates in UCD tonight.
Irish Aid assists the work of Concern and its partner organisations in 27 countries throughout Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, helping fund health, education and HIV/Aids awareness. Concern chief executive Tom Arnold welcomed the new package.