As I write this piece from Kampala, Uganda, I reflect again on our Third World aid organisations and the great humanitarian work they perform. Organisations such as GOAL, Concern, Trocaire, and others come easily to mind. I am here to visit various Irish Aid projects and to monitor elections in this beautiful country in the company of Senator Michael Lanigan, Michael D. Higgins and Nora Owen. Good hardworking companions all.
I am just 12 months into my three-year remit as the chairman of the Irish Red Cross. It is remarkable how unaware many of us are of the day-to-day services that we take for granted which would not happen if other people did not give their time and energy for free.
As the summer gets under way, most of us are spending our time planning how to reward ourselves for all the things we've done this year. Holidays and trips are being planned as we congratulate ourselves for all our efforts during another year of hard work.
Have a break, we say, we have earned it. But in the cities, towns, and rural areas, there are people who are also making plans. These people have also worked hard and they also plan to enjoy themselves, not by doing less but in fact by doing more. More for the young people living in their communities, more for older neighbours, more for families - more for their community and society in general.
Who are they, these people, who in a time of increasing social isolation, individualism, consumerism and civic alienation, do something for that endangered entity - the community?
These people are volunteers - they work within organisations that provide services that wouldn't otherwise exist. They spend their Saturdays ferrying young people to matches, their evenings visiting the poor and the lonely, their Sundays collecting money to send to countries in need and on countless other activities to help brighten the lives of others.
This year is their year, it is the International Year of the Volunteer, the year when all of us should ask what we have done to help others. How have we involved ourselves in the really big issues that concern our wider society?
I am at the helm of an organisation which draws on the dedication of volunteers who do all the things I have talked about and more. Uniquely, Irish Red Cross volunteers work at home and abroad delivering humanitarian aid to people everywhere, like our other great aid organisations.
Many events in this country - from headline outdoor concerts taking place this summer to your local community sports - simply could not go ahead without the presence of volunteers from Red Cross first aid units.
Thousands of elderly, infirm or terminally ill people around the country rely on the skills of their carers, who learned from the Red Cross, and the gentle companionship of its visitors.
Families and friends would not be able to enjoy a walk in the Wicklow Mountains were it not for the 24-hours seven-day-a-week commitment of our rescue team from the Glen of Imaal, who form part of the emergency services.
Small villages and outlying areas elsewhere around the country rely on the emergency ambulance service provided by their local Red Cross. The people who put themselves forward to do these essential tasks get no pay and all too often no thanks either.
Across the world, our delegates have endured hardship, loneliness, danger and sheer exhaustion in their work to bring relief to the starving, the war-ravaged and the imprisoned. Working with people in pain is never easy and is certainly devoid of glamour, but I believe that does not mean it should go unappreciated.
The Irish Red Cross is moving into a new era to help our volunteers and to make their work less difficult and more rewarding. I am proud that as an organisation, the Irish Red Cross has bravely taken a long hard look at itself to see where improvements can be made.
This has not been easy; long-cherished views about the roles and functions of internal structures have been scrutinised to assess their usefulness in the light of our members' needs and the needs of the communities they serve.
Over the course of the last two years our members and staff have expressed their opinion on the Irish Red Cross as part of a root and branch consultative process undertaken by the organisation itself. This process sought and examined submissions from all sides and has now used those, often critical submissions to draft a new strategic plan for the future.
Among the most deeply held views are those dealing with the governance of the Irish Red Cross and I am determined that those of us in the leadership of the organisation will act on what has been said. I accept that the internal structure of the Irish Red Cross is due an overhaul and I also acknowledge that the 1939 legislation, upon which this structure is based, is now well past its sell-by date.
But I am also heartened by the rapid progress that has already been made in terms of acting on many of the needs identified in the submissions.
Lastly, I do agree with the view that political appointments to the Irish Red Cross should cease. We are mere birds of passage. New governments, new appointments and consequently no continuity of tenure. Five chairmen in the past ten years does not make sense. In this new beginning for the organisation the political input will be closely scrutinised and the problems hopefully cured.
Garret FitzGerald in on leave
