A recent survey by the Irish Mortgage Corporation found that fewer than 4% of SSIA holders are planning to donate some of their savings from the scheme to charity.

It is estimated that if 1% were to donate 1% of their savings, it would constitute an estimated 1.5m in donations.

For the first time, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is working with Barnardos to make a joint appeal to SSIA holders. "We know that most people have already decided what they want to do with their money when they get it, " said Paul Gilligan, chief executive of the ISPCC. "But we thought a lot of people haven't considered the extra bit of money they'll have when they stop making SSIA instalments. So our appeal will be to 'Go the extra month for children' . . . that is, donate one month's SSIA payment to us after you finish with the scheme itself."

According to the Department of Finance, there are almost 1.1million SSIA holders in the country, each making average monthly instalments of 196. This would mean a windfall of 212m if each SSIA holder was to donate one month's payment to charity.

The ISPCC/Barnardos campaign is due to be launched at the end of April, to coincide with the maturing of the first SSIA accounts in May. However, another charity amalgamation . . . The Little Star Fund . . . will be launching their campaign this Tuesday.

The Fund is a merger of Ireland's three national children's hospitals . . . Temple Street, Tallaght Children's Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children . . . and Barretstown, a camp for seriously ill children. It has already won support from broadcasters Ray D'Arcy and Marian Finucane.

According to Jenny Dunphy, spokeswoman for The Little Star Fund, the campaign offers people an opportunity to help the 250,000 sick children in Ireland. "We're very aware that people have been saving very hard for the last five years, " she said. "We're not asking for big sums of money.

Everyone has a child or knows a child who is sick and needs our services. If we could even get 0.5% of the money that is coming into the economy, it could make a huge difference."

Amnesty International, Oxfam Ireland and Friends of the Earth have also joined together to ask SSIA holders to consider donating some of their windfall. A spokesman for Oxfam said that the campaign was still in the early planning stages, but the core message has been decided . . .

"You have one chance to spend your SSIA. What difference will yours make? Just one month of your SSIA savings can help to prevent torture, poverty, suffering, injustice and climate chaos. What better saving is there?"

Other charities will target SSIA holders alone. Trocaire plans to launch a marketing campaign by the summer. The Simon Community will appeal to its current donators, and is in the process of devising a campaign to be launched after the summer. Concern is also in the early stages of devising a focused advertising campaign.