The Minister for Justice Equality & Defence, Mr. Alan Shatter, TD, announces the approval by Government of the following four nominees to the General Assembly of the Red Cross, who will serve for a three year term, : Mr. Máirtín O’Fainín, Ms. Mary Flaherty, Mr. Darren Ryan and Mr. Cathal Duffy.
Mr. Máirtín O’Fainín, who is a native of Co. Waterford, had a long and distinguished career in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before his retirement last year. He had served most recently as Irish Ambassador to Australia and before that as Ambassador to Argentina. Previously he had also served as Head of Mission in Uganda which was also accredited to Rwanda, and in a number of postings around the world including Zambia, Poland and USA. Mr. O’Fainín is currently a member of the Advisory Committee of the Combined Services Third World Fund.
Ms. Mary Flaherty is a former Fine Gael TD from Dublin who on her first day in the Dáil in 1981 was appointed by the then Taoiseach, the late Dr. Garret Fitzgerald, as Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare. She was also Fine Gael spokesperson on Development Affairs for a number of years during the 1980’s and over a long number of years she was deeply involved with AWEPA - the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa – which works in partnership with African parliaments to strengthen democracy in Africa and to keep Africa high on the political agenda in Europe. Ms. Flaherty served the constituency of Dublin North West as TD for 16 years and continued to serve as a member of Dublin City Council until her retirement from politics in 1999. Ms. Flaherty is currently the Chief Executive of The CARI Foundation which is a registered charity that provides a professional, child centred therapy and counselling service to children, families, and groups who have been affected by child sexual abuse. Prior to entering politics, Ms. Flaherty was a secondary school teacher.
Mr. Darren Ryan is the current Mayor of Clonmel and is also a Labour Party Councillor on South Tipperary County Council. He has been heavily involved in the Irish Red Cross both at local and national level for many years and is currently the Chairperson of Irish Red Cross Youth, which has responsibility for supporting members under 25 years of age. Mr. Ryan works in a Day Activation Centre for adults with intellectual disabilities, run by the Brothers of Charity and is a well known for his community work with many local voluntary groups. He was first elected to Clonmel Borough Council in 2004 and to South Tipperary County Council in 2007 and is currently the leader of the Labour Party on both Councils.
One of the Government’s nominees has traditionally been a senior civil servant from the Department of Defence. As well as being the Department responsible for sponsoring Red Cross legislation, the Department also pays an annual Grant in Aid to the Society which in 2012 amounts to €869,000. The outgoing nominee is Mr. Cathal Duffy, Principal Officer in the Department of Defence and the Government has decided to re-appoint Mr. Duffy. As well as serving in the Department of Defence, Mr. Duffy who is a native of Co. Carlow has previously worked in the Department of Agriculture and in the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Speaking after today’s Cabinet meeting, Minister Shatter stated that: “Following the recent changes made by the Government to the Red Cross legislation, the nomination of these four high calibre individuals to the General Assembly of the Irish Red Cross represents a further important step taken by this Government to restoring the full confidence of the public in the Irish Red Cross Society. The steps that have been taken by this Government are the most wide ranging and fundamental set of changes to have occurred in the long history of the Society and provide for corporate governance arrangements that now bring the Society into the 21st century. These appointments will copper-fasten the strong impetus for change that now exists within the Society itself and whilst a lot of important measures have been taken over the past year, particularly in relation to re-structuring its corporate governance, I would urge the Society to maintain the momentum and to ensure that the value that these nominations can bring to the Society is fully utilised.” The Minister also referred to the Programme for Government commitment which provides for the initiation of a detailed legal review of the basis, structures and governance of the Red Cross in Ireland to improve its functioning in the light of changing circumstances. The Minister stated that: “The Department of Defence has recently commenced work on this review and I anticipate that, at its conclusion, this review will lead to the introduction of a new Red Cross Act.”
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NOTE FOR EDITORS:
Pursuant to the Red Cross Act 1938, the Society was established by the Irish Red Cross Society Order 1939 as an independent charitable body corporate. Up until recently that Order had undergone piecemeal changes only since 1939. One of the changes made as a consequence of the Government’s recent decision on 17 April 2012 to amend the 1939 Order is that Government may nominate up to 10% of the membership of the Society’s General Assembly. In accordance with the Rules of the Society, membership of the General Assembly is for a three year term. On the basis of the Society’s current overall membership, which in turn dictates the size of its General Assembly, the maximum number of Government nominees is four.