Irish Examiner view: Hope for Irish charity worker

Irish Examiner

20 hours ago

The kidnapping of Gena Heraty in Haiti remains a live issue at the time of writing, and the most important consideration is her safe return.
Ms Heraty, a native of Westport in Mayo, has spent decades working with the disadvantaged in Haiti. Last weekend, she and several others were taken by armed individuals from her home at the NPFS (Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs) compound in Kenscoff.
She is a member of Viatores Christi, a lay missionary organisation, which stated after the kidnapping: 'Gena has worked in Haiti for over 30 years, dedicating her life to children and adults with disabilities through her leadership of NPFS's special needs programme ... we are thinking of Gena, her family and colleagues, and the adults and children in her care. We ask that her privacy, and that of those closest to her, be respected as efforts continue to clarify the situation.'
It is good that the full weight of Ireland's State apparatus is being brought to bear on this case, with Tánaiste Simon Harris dealing directly with his counterpart in Haiti to resolve the matter. Irish diplomats are also working hard behind the scenes in several different jurisdictions to the same end.
Ms Heraty's life of service to others is redolent of an entirely different era in Irish life, the decades when thousands left these shores to serve in 'the missions'.
Not all of those experiences were positive. Readers with long memories may recall a scenario from the 1980s which resembles Ms Heraty's case.
In 1983, Fr Niall O'Brien, originally from Dublin, and several colleagues were arrested in the Philippines on trumped-up charges by the Marcos regime. The following year, those charges were dropped and all were released. Fr O'Brien made a triumphant return to Dublin.
It is to be hoped that Ms Heraty's case will reach a similarly successful conclusion.
Support for our communities
All this week we have been sharing information here on crime in Cork, detailing statistics and figures on a station-by-station basis as well as showing crime levels in various parts of the city and county.
Yesterday we offered an insight into how precisely crime can affect an area by drilling into the experience of a specific sector of many local economies: Pharmacists.
Perhaps 'community' would be preferable to 'economy' in that sentence, because although a chemist's premises is a business first and foremost, by its very nature it is also a community service. Providing medicine means a pharmacy is an integral part of the area in which it is located, a vital supplier of essential goods.
The first-hand experience outlined by Pat Dalton, a pharmacist on Cork's North Main St, was all the more depressing to read as a result. Mr Dalton wrote: 'Crime — persistent, often aggressive, and sometimes violent — has become an unfortunate and routine part of daily life in many pharmacies, including my own. In the last 12 months alone, my pharmacy has experienced several incidents of theft and of verbal abuse.'
His experience is not an isolated one. The Irish Pharmacy Union's 2025 crime survey showed that 89% of pharmacies in Ireland have been victims of crime in the past year; what is even more concerning is the extent of the increase in the number of incidents in recent years. In 2020, 72% of pharmacies were affected.
The impact of such high levels of crime is entirely negative. Pharmacists are forced to introduce costly security measures, their staff are working in a more dangerous environment, and customers are not getting the best care possible. To compound matters, the high number of repeat offences has left pharmacists questioning whether it is even worth reporting these crimes to the authorities, according to Mr Dalton.
The services provided by pharmacies are a vital part of our national health system, and those operating in this sector deserve the support of the State. Whether that support takes the form of stiffer sentences for offenders, more visible policing, or other measures, all options should be considered to maintain this vital community service.
Film pioneer George Morrison 1922-2025
The death was announced this week of documentary filmmaker George Morrison. He was 102 years old.
There was a certain irony to the timing in that just a few days ago Féile na Laoch was held in Cúil Aodha in West Cork, the festival which is held every seven years to celebrate the life and work of Seán Ó Riada.
A central feature of the festival is the all-night Aeraíocht, which features a string of artists performing until the dawn breaks. As the sun rose on last week's festivities, a volunteer orchestra played the theme to the documentary film Mise Éire, a theme Ó Riada composed.
George Morrison directed Mise Éire, which details events leading up to, including, and immediately after the 1916 Easter Rising. The first full-length feature film ever produced in the Irish language, the documentary received its premiere at the Cork Film Festival in 1959 and Morrison's innovative approach — using archive footage, newsreels, and newspaper archives — drew wide acclaim.
Morrison went on to make Saoirse in 1961, a film examining the War of Independence and the Civil War. Among his other works are Dublin Day, a documentary about James Joyce that he made in 2007 when he was 83.
President Michael D Higgins described Tramore native Morrison as 'an iconic and foundational figure in Irish filmography'. He was all of that and more.