Irish Red Cross
The Irish Red Cross Society was formally established on 1 July 1939 under the terms of the Red Cross Act 1938. Its constitution is based on the Geneva Conventions of 1949, their additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005 (the Geneva Conventions), to which Ireland is a party, Acts of the Oireachtas and relevant provisions of the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The organisation has been supervised by the Irish Department of Defence and it receives €1 million p.a. from the State; its management is currently being reformed.
Formerly the Irish White Cross had worked in the Irish Free State in 1921-28.
The society is organised on a voluntary basis. In Ireland, its activities include mountain rescue, first aid education of the public, the provision of first aid and ambulance services at public events, as well as other community services including therapeutic hand care for the elderly and training of carers. Outside of Ireland, the society provides relief and humanitarian services in response to natural disasters and in regions of conflict.
The headquarters of the Irish Red Cross is located at 16 Merrion Square North, Dublin 2. The society is a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Read more about Irish Red Cross: Organisation, Use of Red Cross Insignia, Controversies
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“The next forenoon we went to Oldtown.... The Indian is said to cultivate the vices rather than the virtues of the white man. Yet this village was cleaner than I expected, far cleaner than such Irish villages as I have seen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Margaret Atwood (b. 1939)