Irish missionary and child, 3, among nine kidnapped from Haiti orphanage
Gena Heraty, the facility's director, was among those taken from the privately-run Sainte-Hélène orphanage in Kenscoff during the early hours of the morning, according to Mayor Massillon Jean.
Seven employees and a child were also taken from the orphanage, which cares for more than 240 children, some with disabilities.
Attackers broke into the orphanage at about 15:30 local time (07:30 GMT) "without opening fire," Jean said, describing it as a "planned act".
The attackers had broken through a wall to enter the property, Jean said, before heading to the building where Ms Heraty was staying.
Gang members are thought to be responsible for the attack, Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported.
Ms Heraty, who has lived in Haiti since 1993, called the organisation that runs the orphanage - Our little brothers and sisters - early on Sunday to confirm she was among those kidnapped, a source told the AFP news agency.
No demands or ransom requests have been made, the source said.
Ireland's foreign affairs department said it was aware of the case and was providing consular assistance.
Gena Heraty, who was born in Liscarney, County Mayo, has received numerous awards for her humanitarian work, including the Oireachtas Human Dignity Award.
She previously told the Irish Times that she had no intention of leaving Haiti, despite growing gang violence and threats to her own safety.
"The children are why I'm still here. We're in this together," she told the newspaper in 2022.
Since early 2025, Kenscoff commune, on the southern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, has been one of the city's districts suffering from constant incursions and raids by Haiti's criminal gangs, which already control most of the capital and large swathes of the interior of the country.
Haiti's police, along with its Kenyan police allies and foreign contractors using weaponised drones, have repeatedly sought to dislodge the gangs from their positions and bases, but have not succeeded in pushing them back.
Gang violence and kidnappings are also common in other areas in and around Port-au-Prince, where the UN says armed groups control about 85% of the city.
On 7 July, six Unicef employees were kidnapped during an authorised mission in an area controlled by armed groups in Port-au-Prince. Although one employee was released the following day, five others were held captive by a gang for a further three weeks.
In the first half of 2025, UN figures show that almost 350 people were kidnapped in Haiti. At least 3,141 people were also killed in the same period, the UN Human Rights Office said.
UN Human Rights chief, Volker Türk, has warned that a surge in gang violence is threatening to further destabilise the nation, with a record 1.3 million people displaced by the disorder as of June.
The UN has said families are "struggling to survive in makeshift shelters while facing mounting health and protection risks".
Number of internally displaced people in Haiti tripled in 2024
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A Westport parish priest said the local community was 'saddened and shocked' by Ms Heraty's kidnapping. Fr John Kenny said Ms Heraty's sister Mary spoke at the weekly Monday mass in her local parish church in Cushlough, which was attended by many people praying for her safe return. Fr Kenny said the mass 'would have generally a small attendance', but on Monday 'cars were everywhere'. 'People were gathered and quietly prayed and then met with the family afterwards,' he told RTE Radio. 'The evening was a nice evening, a quiet evening, so they had the opportunity to meet with her siblings and her extended family and console them and chat to them and reassure them of our prayers and support. '(Mary) was maybe a little bit nervous to speak, because it really is on tenterhooks that anything said or done or anything that would upset the situation in any way, even at this great distance, on social media and (media) coverage, you would be worried. 'The family are very appreciative of the support and very conscious that people are praying and supporting them as we can.' He described Ms Heraty as 'wonderful, generous and caring' and said several fundraising events have been held for her cause. 'She's not one for the spotlight or to highlight herself. It's always the work she does that she draws attention to and the people she works with,' he added. 'Any fundraising events that we support, the local schools, the local communities, are generous to her cause and the cause she works for. 'Reluctantly, as I said, she has to come forward to do that, but it's never for herself. It's never for her own benefit. It's always for the benefit of others. 'That's just the nature of the person she is, a wonderful, generous, caring, compassionate person, a great human being.' Ms Heraty survived a vicious assault while she worked at a Haitian orphanage in 2011. She was punched and hit a number of times with a hammer when men broke into the building. 'We wouldn't know all the ins and outs of what goes on there, but we are conscious that it's an area where there's a lot of unrest, and then all the storms and various terrible natural events that happen too over the years,' Fr Kenny added. 'We're worried about her physical concerns there, that there will be storm damage and flooding and all kinds of things. But then, yes, the unrest and the unease of the local situation.'
