UNICEF Ireland, also known as the Irish National Committee for UNICEF, is one of 36 UNICEF National Committees based in industrialised countries.

The National Committees raise funds for the organisation's worldwide emergency and development

International development

International development or global development is a concept that lacks a universally accepted definition, but it is most used in a holistic and multi-disciplinary context of human development — the development of greater quality of life for humans...

 work.

UNICEF Ireland advises the Irish Government

Irish Government

The Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.-Members of the Government:Membership of the Government is regulated fundamentally by the Constitution of Ireland. The Government is headed by a prime minister called the Taoiseach...

 and other bodies on policies and legislation which support the above programmes and commitments under the UN

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...

.

UNICEF is not funded by the UN. Instead, it relies on voluntary donations to fund its work for children worldwide. UNICEF Ireland raises funds for these programmes through donations, the sale of cards and gifts, partnerships with companies and special events. UNICEF Ireland is a registered charity.

UNICEF Ireland Ambassadors

UNICEF Ireland Ambassadors have the ability to focus the world’s attention on the needs of children, helping them to reach a wider audience, allowing them to further highlight the work they undertake to improve the lives of the most vulnerable children around the world.

All of their ambassadors dedicate time and energy to UNICEF Ireland in a variety of ways; visiting field projects throughout the world, speaking to the media about what they have seen, or lobbying and raising money on their behalf.

UNICEF Ireland Ambassadors include Gabriel Byrne

Gabriel Byrne

Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...

, Donncha O'Callaghan

Donncha O'Callaghan

Donncha O'Callaghan is an Irish rugby union footballer. He plays as a lock for Munster and Ireland.- Early career :He began his rugby education in Highfield Rugby Club, on the Model Farm Road in Cork. During the 1997/98 season he won a Schools Senior Cup with the Christian Brothers College, Cork,...

, Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy is a Northern Irish professional golfer from Holywood in County Down. He has represented Europe, Great Britain & Ireland, and Ireland as both an amateur and a professional. He had a successful amateur career, topping the World Amateur Golf Ranking for one week as a 17-year-old in 2007...

, Stephen Rea

Stephen Rea

Stephen Rea is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in high profile films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto...

, Cathy Kelly

Cathy Kelly

Cathy Kelly is a Northern Irish internationally best-selling author of female fiction. She is a former journalist.Kelly is one of the largest women's authors to come out of Northern Ireland along with Marian Keyes and Cecelia Ahern, having once outsold both Dan Brown and J. K. Rowling in the UK....

, Joe Canning

Joe Canning

Joe Canning is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Portumna and has been a member of the Galway senior inter-county team since 2008....

, Dermot Earley

Dermot Earley

Lieutenant-General Dermot Earley DSM was an Irish army officer and sportsman. He played Gaelic football with his local clubs Michael Glavey's and Sarsfield's and was a member of the Roscommon GAA senior inter-county team from 1965 until 1985...

, Dustin the Turkey

Dustin the Turkey

Dustin the Turkey is a puppet, "television presenter" and star of RTÉ television's The Den since 1989. A turkey with a strong Dublin accent, Dustin is voiced by John Morrison, brother of Ciaran Morrison who was one of the creators of Zig and Zag. Dustin first appeared on The Den with Zig and Zag in...

 and
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson

Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...

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UNICEF Ireland Campaigns

UNICEF Ireland’s first “Euro for Zero” campaign took place from the 24th – 7th November 2010.During these two weeks, UNICEF Ireland's goal was to raise over €1,000,000 simply by getting every adult in Ireland to donate €1 each to UNICEF.

Convention on the Rights of the Child

The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a comprehensive human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 treaty which enshrines specific children’s rights in international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

. These rights define universal principles and standards for the status and treatment of children worldwide.

The Convention spells out a specific role for UNICEF, in its capacity as the UN body responsible for the rights of children

Children's rights

Children's rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education,...

. UNICEF is required to promote the effective implementation of the Convention and to encourage international cooperation for the benefit of children. UNICEF is also entitled to be represented when each country’s implementation of the Convention is considered by the Committee

Committee on the Rights of the Child

The Committee on the Rights of the Child is a body of independent experts that monitors and reports on implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by governments that ratify the Convention...

 every five years.

UNICEF in Ireland

In Ireland, UNICEF works to promote the rights of all children living in Ireland, regardless of race, religion or nationality and is a member of the Children's Rights Alliance.

Change the Future Report Series

In 2011, UNICEF Ireland is publishing a series of four reports that present the findings of primary research carried out among Irish teenagers in late 2010. The series of reports entitled “Change the Future” will be released periodically by UNICEF Ireland in 2011 and will come together to paint a holistic picture on teenage well-being in Ireland, in the words of young people themselves.
The First Report focuses on ‘happiness’ and explores general themes around teenage well-being throughout the country.

Corporate Partners

UNICEF is supported entirely by voluntary contributions and the support from corporate partners makes a significant contribution to its work. Companies that currently have a corporate partnership with UNICEF Ireland include Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus Group Plc is the flag carrier of Ireland. It operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft serving Europe and North America. It is Ireland's oldest extant airline, and its second largest after low-cost rival Ryanair...

, Fyffes

Fyffes

-History:In the 1870s Thomas Fyffe, a London food wholesaler, went into partnership with a fruit dealer named Hudson who had connections in the Canary Islands. In 1878 they shipped their first cargo of bananas to England. Within five years the business had become so successful that they purchased...

, IKEA

IKEA

IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...

, Topaz Energy

Topaz Energy

Topaz is an Irish petroleum retail chain, operating all over Ireland. The legal entity was formed in 2005 and previously traded under the Statoil and Shell brands, until 2008 when the "Topaz" brand replaced both in Ireland, partly due to the Corrib gas controversy. It is also the largest supplier...

 and Pampers

Pampers

Pampers is a brand of baby products marketed by Procter & Gamble. Pampers was at one time only used as a name for a disposable diaper.-Products:...

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UNICEF Ireland Events

UNICEF Ireland Corporate Lunch

This year's Corporate Lunch took place on Friday, February 18th 2011 at the Shelbourne Hotel

Shelbourne Hotel

The Shelbourne Hotel is a famous hotel situated in a landmark building on the north side of St Stephen's Green, in Dublin, Ireland. Currently operated by Marriott International, the hotel has 265 rooms in total and reopened in March 2006 after undergoing an eighteen-month refurbishment.John...

 in Dublin. MC on the day was TV3's Mark Cagney

Mark Cagney

Mark Cagney was born in Cork, Ireland. Cagney was one of eight children in the family; he left home at age 15 because of difficulties with his father, who he described as a "remarkable man": an inventor, a musician, a welder, a mechanic, and a lecturer in electronics. Cagney learned how to take...

 and special guest speaker was legendary RTE

RTE

RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...

 Broadcaster Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh is an Irish Gaelic games commentator for the Irish national radio and television, RTÉ. In a career that has spanned six decades he has come to be regarded as the "voice of Gaelic games." His prolific career has earned him a place in Guinness World Records.-Early...

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Change for Good

In 2009, Tesco

Tesco

Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

 used “Change for Good” as advertising, which is trade marked by UNICEF internationally for charity usage but is not trademarked for commercial or retail use which prompted the agency to say "it is the first time in UNICEF’s history that a commercial entity has purposely set out to capitalise on one of our campaigns and subsequently damage an income stream which several of our programmes for children are dependent on”.They went on to call on the public “who have children’s welfare at heart, to consider carefully who they support when making consumer choices”.

Dismissal of Chief Executive

In July 2011, former UNICEF Ireland executive director Melanie Verwoerd has said she was “deeply shocked” to have been sacked from the charity because of the publicity surrounding her relationship with the late broadcaster Gerry Ryan

Gerry Ryan

Gerard "Gerry" Ryan was an Irish presenter of radio and television employed by Raidió Teilifís Éireann...

. Three top Hollywood stars Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson

Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...

, Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...

 and Roger Moore

Roger Moore

Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...

expressed their sadness over the dismissal However, all three Goodwill Ambassadors are continuing to support UNICEF..