THE CO-FOUNDER of NGO Concern, Father Jack Finucane, has died aged 80.

The Limerick priest was among the group who founded the charity in order to ship aid to Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War

The charity was launched in 1968 and has become one of Ireland’s largest charities.

Father Finucane was a director of the charity until his death.

He died suddenly yesterday while on retreat in Dublin.

President Michael D Higgins said in a statement that Jack and his late brother Father Aengus Finucane were “inspirational figures among the large group of people in Ireland who value and embody the importance of the humanitarian spirit”.

“Theirs was a distinctive voice and their life’s work leaves a real, positive, and enduring legacy for millions of people across the globe, as well as having contributed to Ireland’s reputation abroad in the best possible sense.

“I had the great privilege of meeting Jack Finucane in Somalia during the Famine, and on many occasions since.

“His commitment to the ethical basis for, as well as the practical application of humanitarian principles was exemplary. Jack Finucane’s lifelong commitment to protecting the dignity of some of the world’s poorest and most marginalised people will stand not only as a lasting tribute to all that is good about mankind, but is exemplary in its invitation not to avert our gaze from our current challenges of global hunger and poverty.”

Born in Limerick in 1937, Father Finucane was ordained in 1963.

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