ABOUT 950 people are to travel to South Africa next week to take part in the annual charity building blitz organised by businessman Niall Mellon.
However, several of the high-profile supporters who volunteered for the project in previous years will not be taking part.
Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive Seán FitzPatrick and developer Seán Dunne were among the well-known businesspeople who travelled to Cape Town to build low-cost housing for the Niall Mellon Township Trust.
The charity's founder Niall Mellon told The Irish Timesthat he had not asked Mr Fitzpatrick or Mr Dunne to take part this year, given the difficult circumstances their respective industries were experiencing.
“Seán FitzPatrick came out with us to South Africa on two previous occasions, at the height of his career, and despite what has happened, he should be given credit for helping a lot of people out here,” he said.
The slump in Ireland’s construction industry has also affected Mr Mellon’s business. He confirmed he was no longer in a position to personally fund the trust’s work for the next few years.
In an interview, Mr Mellon said while he had not escaped the property crash in Ireland, rumours that his businesses were under threat were wide of the mark.
“I am currently not in a position to continue giving the type of large-scale donations I have been making since the charity began in 2002, but I am determined this journey I started continues, and over 2½ years ago I put in place a number of measures to safeguard the charity against such an event that has occurred.”
He added: “While the downturn is clearly a setback for my charity, I am 100 per cent certain it will survive the recession.”
An important development that has helped to safeguard the charity’s future occurred last February, Mr Mellon said, when the trust was included in new legislation passed by the US Congress.
This “ensured we will get funding from USAid [the US government’s development fund] in the future.
“It may take two years to come through, but it is significant,” he said.
Since 2002 the Niall Mellon Township Trust has built 12,000 houses for South Africa’s poor. By the end of this year they hope to bring that figure to 14,000.
The 2009 challenge, taking place between November 7th and 14th, has been taken up by a wide range of Irish people, including transition-year students from Loreto School in Blackrock and Cashel Community School in Tipperary, with only about 30 per cent emanating from the traditional construction sector.
The 950 volunteers this year each had to raise at least €5,000 to take part.
They will be building homes for people living in Wallacedene, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town.
Helping hands: Irish volunteers begin project in Haiti
MORE THAN 250 people are this morning starting the first voluntary house-building project in Haiti for a new Irish charity.
The 180 men and 80 women, from throughout Ireland, flew with the Cork-based Haven charity to Haiti, via the Dominican Republic, over the weekend. Their aim will be to build 40 houses and community facilities within six days, working alongside Haitians in Ouanaminthe, northeastern Haiti.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western world, said Haven’s founder Leslie Buckley.
“We have been recruiting volunteers to help house people in abject poverty and each has had to raise €4,000 and take a week off work to join us for Build It Week. This will be the adventure of a lifetime for them but this is no holiday.
“Our volunteers will be working very hard in a tropical climate from sun-up to sun-down. At the end of the week they will be handsomely rewarded by knowing their efforts mean a Haitian family will have a proper roof over their heads for the first time.”
The aim is to build 1,000 homes in Haiti and upgrade up to 2,000 more. Some 240 Haitians will benefit from Build It Week.
Among the volunteers on this mission is broadcaster George Hook, who will be on the volunteer catering team. Also involved is hotelier John Brennan from the Park Hotel in Killarney.
KITTY HOLLAND