Irish charity GOAL to cut 30% of staff due to global aid cuts

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish humanitarian charity GOAL is set to cut around 30% of its 3,250 staff operating in 14 countries in response to government aid cuts around the world, including its largest donor, the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The aid agency, which currently operates across Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Ukraine, said it had informed 900 staff whose jobs may be affected, citing abrupt funding cuts in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Britain and the U.S.

The 103 million euros ($112 million) of funding GOAL received from USAID in 2023 made up 50% of its income. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration told Congress on Friday it would cut nearly all remaining jobs at USAID and shut the agency.

"The unprecedented scale of these cuts is placing an indescribable toll on the entire humanitarian system and millions of lives are on the brink," GOAL CEO Siobhan Walsh said in a statement, adding that the scale of global job cuts across the sector was not yet visible.

GOAL said it was already receiving reports of children under five participating in one of its Ethiopian feeding programmes for malnutrition dying due to interruptions and suspensions brought about by the aid cuts.

Stabilisation centres have already exhausted their allocated supplies of therapeutic milk, which has further exacerbated the situation and put thousands of children at significant risk, it added.

GOAL said it was grateful to the Irish government for continuing to provide it with humanitarian funding.

($1 = 0.9236 euros)

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Mark Potter)