A volunteer working under the Irish Aid's Rapid Response Initiative has died suddenly in Sri Lanka.
Conor Lyons, who was the first volunteer from the Government's international Rapid Response Corps to be deployed abroad, travelled to Colombo last week to work with the UN World Food Programme on a three month deployment.
In statement issued this afternoon by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Minister Dermot Ahern and Minister Michael Kitt offered their sympathies to Mr Lyons' family.
It is understood Mr Lyons, from Thurles, Co Tipperary, died in Colombo this morning. He was an expert in logistics and had previously worked with the UN in disaster zones in East Timor and Kosovo.
Minister Ahern said: "It was with very great sadness that I learned of the sudden death this morning of Conor. I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife, daughter and son, and to his extended family."
"They have lost a loving husband and father, we have lost a humanitarian pioneer and a selfless and dedicated worker for those living on the margins of the world," he said.
The Rapid Response Corps was established after the White Paper on Irish Aid to provide a pool of technical experts to be deployed in humanitarian emergencies.
