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
Famous quotes containing the words irish, red and/or cross:
“O Paddy dear, an’ did ye hear the news that’s goin’ round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!
No more Saint Patrick’s Day we’ll keep, his colour can’t be seen,
For there’s a cruel law agin the wearin’ o’ the Green!”
—Unknown. The Wearing of the Green (l. 37–40)
“The silence is death.
It comes each day with its shock
to sit on my shoulder, a white bird,
and peck at the black eyes
and the vibrating red muscle
of my mouth.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“There is the grand truth about Nathaniel Hawthorne. He says NO! in thunder; but the Devil himself cannot make him say yes. For all men who say yes, lie; and all men who say no,—why, they are in the happy condition of judicious, unincumbered travellers in Europe; they cross the frontiers into Eternity with nothing but a carpet-bag,—that is to say, the Ego. Whereas those yes-gentry, they travel with heaps of baggage, and, damn them! they will never get through the Custom House.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)