Dermot McCarthy, secretary general at the department of An Taoiseach and Mary Davis, director of Special Olympics Ireland, yesterday launched an internet service aimed at matching professional volunteers with non-profit organisations.

Boardmatch Ireland, the first such service to be launched in Europe, will enable professionals such as accountants, IT specialists, solicitors and project managers to volunteer to work for charities and non-profit groups.

"Our aim is to offer people a formal and structured way of volunteering at a management or strategic level," said Barry Sheehan, director of Boardmatch Ireland. "There are a lot of groups out there that need people with particular skills and we're helping them meet people who have the skills to offer."

Boardmatch services are already in operation in the US, where the website has about 15,000 volunteers registered at any one time, and in Canada, where the project has placed 1,000 volunteers with non-profit organisations over a five-year period.

Matches will be based on location, skills, time available and preferred area of interest.

Speaking at the launch, Ms Davis outlined how non-profit organisations can benefit from gaining access to skill sets that may not normally be readily available to them.