A journalist from Tramore, Co Waterford, has been appointed to a senior position with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva.
Mr Denis McClean, a former GOAL volunteer who worked for the Irish Press group, is the new head of international media services at an organisation which has about 20 million active volunteers and members in 176 countries.
He has been with the Red Cross since 1987 and has worked as a relief co-ordinator in disaster-hit areas including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Somalia, Armenia and Sri Lanka.
In 1994 he provided logistical support for the half million Rwandan refugees at the Goma camp in Zaire. Five years ago he was appointed head of regional delegation for the Caribbean, where he was based in Jamaica.
Mr McClean's family moved to Dublin shortly after his birth and returned to live in Tramore in the early 1970s when he was 14. His first day at the De La Salle school in Waterford is one he has not forgotten: "Myself and my brother were sent home because our hair was too long."
He gets back to Tramore occasionally but spare time is scarce. His new role involves providing information to the world's media about the activities of the International Red Cross and its national societies, including the Irish Red Cross.
He is currently launching the international body's global appeal for 2000 and 2001, in which it is seeking to raise £180 million.
Information about the international and Irish Red Cross organisations can be obtained from their respective websites: www.ifrc.org and www.redcross.ie