Tánaiste Simon Harris has held talks overnight with Haiti’s foreign minister about the kidnapping of Mayo woman Gena Heraty.
Mr Harris, who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs, asked his counterpart Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste in a call to ensure that everything is done to ensure the release of Ms Heraty and the seven others kidnapped from an orphanage in the Caribbean island naton.
“The minister assured me of his support in our work to ensure the safe release of Gena, and all the hostages, who have gone through the most horrendous of ordeals,” he said.
“We have agreed to stay in touch about the case, which remains extremely sensitive.”
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Irish officials were working last night to establish contacts with charity workers in the country after the kidnapping in the capital Port-au-Prince.
Ms Heraty, a missionary who is director of the Sainte-Hélène orphanage run by Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs (NPFS, Our Little Brothers and Sisters) in Kenscoff, was taken with seven others, including a three-year-old child, on Sunday.
Diplomats stationed in Dublin; Washington, DC; and London are leading the efforts.
It is believed the gang who led the kidnapping are associates of the Viv Ansanm gang in the town of Kenscoff.
[ Gena Heraty ‘dedicated her life to supporting the most vulnerable’Opens in new window ]
The gang, a powerful amalgamation of several criminal groups in the country, seized control of most of Kenscoff earlier this year. No ransom demands have been made.
Sources said a subtle diplomatic approach, using intermediaries on the ground who may have contacts with the kidnappers, is the preferred option.
Haiti’s lack of a fully functioning government makes more formal diplomatic engagement difficult, a source said, although some official liaison is taking place.
The perilous security situation on the ground means the option of sending an Emergency Consular Assistance Team (Ecat) is not on the table yet.
These teams typically comprise experienced diplomats backed up by Defence Forces troops who work with local authorities to secure the release of Irish citizens. In the past Ecats have been deployed to assist Irish citizens in Afghanistan, Sudan and Iraq.
Mr Harris said it was “an extremely sensitive case” that is “being worked on tirelessly by our teams in Dublin, Washington and London”.
Ms Heraty’s relatives said in a statement on Monday that they were “absolutely devastated” by the kidnapping.
In her mid-50s, Ms Heraty is a member of Viatores Christi, a lay missionary group which has its headquarters in Dublin.
In a statement, Viatores Christi said Ms Heraty has dedicated her life “to children and adults with disabilities through her leadership of NPFS’s special needs programme”.
The organisation praised her “commitment, compassion and steady presence”, saying she has “made a lasting difference to many families in the region”.
“We are thinking of Gena, her family and colleagues, and the adults and children in her care,” the statement added.
Writing about her work for The Irish Times in 2007, she said: “Once I saw those kids, I knew I had to help them.” Haiti “is often so brutal. The challenge is to take the pain and see what you can do to relieve it – your own pain and the pain of Haiti. We can’t change Haiti,” she wrote.
Ms Heraty was named Humanitarian of the Year at the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Awards in 2019. Announcing her win at the time, the judges said she was “known all over Haiti for challenging prejudice against people with physical and intellectual disabilities”.
In November 2013, she survived a brutal assault at the orphanage complex that left one of her colleagues dead. Two men, one armed with a hammer, attempted to rob the centre.
Ms Heraty was punched and hit a number of times with the hammer before retreating to a nearby bedroom to protect some of the children. When her colleague Edward Major tried to intervene, the attackers turned on him, striking several times with the hammer. He died of his injuries.
Ms Heraty described the attack as “absolutely brutal”. She eventually managed to get away from her attackers after some of the children came to her rescue.
In an interview with The Irish Times in 2022, she said had no intention of leaving Haiti despite escalating gang violence, water shortages and the threat of being kidnapped.
“The children are why I’m still here. We’re in this together,” she said at the time.
Kidnappings in Haiti have been increasingly common as the country is engulfed in gang-fueled violence, and armed groups use abductions with ransom demands to help fund their other illicit activities. Five employees of Unicef, the United Nations’ children’s organisation, were held by a gang for three weeks in Haiti and released late last month; it was not clear if a ransom had been paid for their release.
In the first half of this year, there were at least 185 kidnappings in Haiti, according to UN data. The United Nations said 1,494 people were abducted in 2024, a year in which there was a major surge in gang violence. –Additional reporting by the New York Times
