Sir, – I welcome John FitzGerald's focus on Ireland's role in international development in his article "How Ireland benefits from our aid work overseas" (Business Opinion, January 25th).
There is no doubt that our small country has punched far above its weight in this area.
I have to respond, though, to his suggestion that “nearly all of the missionaries have retired”. Misean Cara is privileged to work with 91 Irish missionary organisations who still have thriving and active missionaries throughout the world. Their number may have fallen from the heights of the 20th century, but Irish missionaries’ contribution and reach remains strong today – particularly in difficult or otherwise neglected situations.
In 2018, through Misean Cara alone, Irish missionary organisations invested nearly €14 million in state funding, and leveraged €130,000 more, through 263 projects reaching 1.5 million people in 51 countries; increased access to quality education, healthcare, livelihoods and human rights, with a particular focus on women and children; and brought emergency assistance to almost 51,000 people in 11 countries.
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Missionaries like Jesuit Fr Tony O’Riordan and Loreto Sr Orla Treacy continue to dedicate their lives to working with refugees and educating girls in South Sudan, one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Sr Mary Sweeney (Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny) worked with the people of Sierra Leone throughout the Ebola pandemic in West Africa; five years on, she is working to tackle the social stigma around the virus and supporting survivors to access vital services.
Most missionaries do not retire at 65, as many people do, but continue their calling to make a difference in the world. We have just marked the retirement of Sr Louis Marie O’Connor as a missionary development officer who set up three schools in Haiti in her 80s, which are regarded as centres of excellence in education nationally and internationally.
Irish missionaries are active in education, healthcare, livelihoods and locally-led humanitarian response around the world. They have not retired from Ireland’s development sector. Their amazing work continues. – Yours, etc,
HEYDI FOSTER,
Chief Executive,
Misean Cara,
South Circular Road,
Kilmainham, Dublin 8.