Kildare man Aubrey McCarthy wins Irish Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year award
Mr McCarthy won for his tireless work in feeding and housing the homeless as well as providing accommodation for those that need help to overcome addiction in Ireland
The well known Kildare businessman and charity founder Aubrey McCarthy has won the prestigious Irish Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year award last night for his tireless work in feeding and housing the homeless as well as providing accommodation for those that need help to overcome addiction and other life controlling issues through the Tiglin charity which has helped thousands of people in need and is now in its 16th year.
Mr McCarthy has also been prominent recently in helping asylum seekers in Dublin City Centre for which he has received threats both to himself and to the Tiglin premises at the Light House on Pearse St which provides meals and shelter to Irish homeless people as well as international refugees.
Another highlight of the awards saw the young RTE Toy Show hero Adam King awarded Young Humanitarian of the Year for his many charity initiatives involving his ‘Virtual Hug’. To expand his charitable fundraising, Adam’s Virtual Hug has been turned into a postage stamp, greeting cards and postcards.
Adam has raised over €300,000 for entities including Cork University Hospital (CUH) Charity and Children’s Health Foundation Ireland at Temple St where he has been a patient at both. Adam has also supported various other charities and campaigns close to his heart including Ronald McDonald House, Rare Diseases Ireland, Clean Coasts, Darkness Into Light, and the Irish Wheelchair Association.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Tony Geoghegan who is one of Ireland’s leading advocates for the homeless and those suffering from drug addiction. This award is timely as the Irish Red Cross have been calling for more compassion and a kinder society especially for those who have fallen on hard times.
Mr Geoghegan was chosen for his foresight in co-founding Merchants Quay Ireland back in 1989 and his many subsequent years dedicated to working with the homeless and people who had serious issues with drug use. He has constantly highlighted the growing issues of drug use, the lack of addiction centres and treatments as well as homelessness in Ireland. He joins the likes of campaigner Catherine Corless, John Lonergan and WHO’s Mike Ryan in the list of previous winners.
Other winners on the night were Samaritans Ireland for the Humanitarian Organisation of the Year whose 1500 volunteers ensure some 400,000 calls for help are answered each year and Electric Aid (ESB) for the Corporate Impact Award for their funding of over 2,500 charitable projects worth more than €25m in over 130 countries.
Finally the Humanitarian Journalism Excellence Award went to Hannah McCarthy for her work in covering humanitarian issues in the Middle East, Ukraine and Central Asia for over three years. She has reported from Lebanon after the Beirut port explosion, Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban and from Ukraine during the Russian invasion, as well as from Israel/Palestine during the war on Gaza.
Just some of Hannah’s works include reporting on the displacement and settler violence in the West Bank and Israel over the last year, both before and after the war on Gaza began in October 2023. She has also raised awareness of what is happening in Afghanistan and is one of the only Irish journalists to have reported from there after the fall of the Taliban. She explained the impact of international sanctions on fragile economies and reported on growing levels of malnutrition among Afghan children.
Deirdre Garvey Secretary General for the Irish Red Cross said “The aim of the Irish Red Cross Awards is to highlight the incredible and selfless efforts of people throughout Ireland who have gone out of their way to help those in urgent need. Over the past year with its many conflict and climate related challenges both at home and abroad we’ve learned that kindness still has a clear and profound place in the world.
"This kindness has been seen in the thousands of Irish people who continue to support the Ukrainian community here and have donated towards many disasters in the past 12 months such as the awful floods here in Cork, Louth and Galway and abroad to the Turkey-Syria, Afghan and Moroccan earthquakes, disastrous flooding in Libya and of course to the ongoing relief efforts for those affected by the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.”
“So many individual and collective acts of kindness are important not just because they have real impact on the lives of people in need – these acts are important because they remind us all of the crucial role of community and love for one another. That is what these Awards are here to do, to remind us all of our best selves, the best of Ireland,” she continued.
The judging panel for the awards were: Nina Arwitz - Chief Executive Officer, Volunteer Ireland, Caroline Dowling - Board Director & Advisor DCC – IMI – CRH, Mike Dockery - Co-Founder Black Leadership Council, Orla Feely - President, University College Dublin, Derry Gray -Partner, BDO Ireland, John Healy – Irish Red Cross National Director of Youth, Fiach Mac Conghail - CEO, Digital Hub, Olivia Mitchell Irish Red Cross Board Member, Pendo O’Donoghue - Director of Sales, MEA, Google, Ruby O’Kelly -2022 IRC Young Humanitarian of the Year & Singer/ Songwriter, Felix O’Regan – Irish Red Cross Board Member.
With almost 3,000 volunteers and 78 branches across all 26 counties in the Republic, the Irish Red Cross provides a wide range of services including First Aid (delivery and training), Youth Services, Community Support, Emergency Relief (floods & extreme weather), Migration, Lake & Mountain Rescue; and Prison programmes. The Irish Red Cross collaborate with overseas Red Cross national societies, assisting in the provision of humanitarian relief in conflict and disaster situations.