As well as that, it makes you feel a little better about the endemic conspicuous consumption of the festive period.

There are many charity gifts to choose from (visit www. mycharity. ie for a more extensive list). Here is a sample of what's available.

GORTA has a range of lifetime gifts which support its work in the developing worlds. Prices range from 6 to 625, including 25 for a goat and 190 for a milking cow.

www. gorta. ie

TROCAIRE offers global gifts such as birth certificates for children in Mozambique, which gives them legal rights and access to healthcare, education and other services ( 10); 30 will equip a Liberian farming family with 40 kilos of rice seeds and all of the tools necessary to help them restart their lives after two decades of civil war. www. trocaire. org

OXFAM IRELAND has a dedicated site with gift ideas for all occasions. Visit www. oxfamirelandunwrapped. c om, where gifts such as school fees ( 13), a cooking stove ( 13) and a crop kit ( 45) are available.

If you're buying food gifts . . .coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, juice, snacks, biscuits, fruit, honey, wine, rice, cotton and sugar products . . . make sure they're

FAIRTRADE. The website www. fairtrade. ie provides a list of suppliers.

GOAL'S gifts include mosquito nets for two families ( 10); a month's vocational training for a street child ( 40) or for 100 you could feed, clothe and educate a street child for three months.