Irish women are far more likely to volunteer than their male counterparts.

New figures released today give insight into the make up of Irish volunteers and it seems women make up 70% of those registering to volunteer via their local Volunteer Centre. The figures released by Volunteer Centres Ireland (VCI) show that in Ireland more and more people are contacting their local volunteer centre to get involved with their local communities.

In 2009, Volunteer Centres saw a more than 100% increase in the numbers registering to volunteer. More than 13,000 people nationwide, registered to volunteer.

The number one reason why people registered to volunteer in 2009 was to ‘Give Something Back’, while ’Free Time’ and ’Gain and Improve Skills’ followed shortly behind. Undoubtedly the recession has influenced people’s decision to volunteer as, for the first time, ‘Recently Made Redundant’ also made the top 10.

61% of people registering to volunteer had never volunteered before.

‘Youth / Children’, ‘Education and Literacy’ as well as ‘Older People’ are the top three most popular categories of volunteer opportunities although many people are not sure what they want to do - just that they want to do something. Office Work has become increasingly popular as more and more people seek professional work experience.

Volunteers recruited through volunteer centres are predominately young with almost 70% of volunteers aged under 35 years and more than one-third aged 16-25 years. Furthermore, one in three volunteers are non-Irish.

Dr Yvonne McKenna, CEO of Volunteers Centres Ireland, put this down to the strong web presence of VCI and the fact that Volunteer Centres attract people either new to communities or who haven’t volunteered before. ‘The majority of volunteers registering to volunteer do so through our website www.volunteer.ie. The Volunteer Centres share a database that allows volunteers to register and apply directly for opportunities online. Organisations can also register and update their opportunities online’.