Army officer takes up Red Cross mission

ONE of the country’s most senior army officers is to take up a key international Red Cross mission which will see him keeping a close eye on thousands of prison detainees.

Commandant Martin McDermott is packing his bags in Kilkenny and will leave for the Philippines on November 6 on a key prisons mission.

The senior member of the Irish Defence Forces will work with the Red Cross, ensuring that thousands of people held in prisons are treated humanely and have access to basic goods and services.

Cmdt McDermott, 45, said yesterday it was going to be a tough challenge but he’s very much up for it and looking forward to his new brief.

The Galway native has retired from the Defence Forces after 28 years of loyal service, which have seen him stationed in Dublin, the Curragh, Kilkenny, Wexford and abroad in Brussels and the Middle East.

“I will miss the Defence Forces. I’ve met fantastic people who have been great to me. But I’m also looking forward to this new challenge.

“I feel that I will be bringing a lot of experience to the post.

“I spent four years in Brussels from 2001 working with the EU and Partners For Peace. My wife Margaret worked with Avril Doyle there. I’ve always been interested in politics.

“I will be going into tough and trying conditions. But I feel my training and experience with the Defence Forces will give me a lot of know-how in dealing with situations and allowing me to leave it all behind.

“Margaret will be going out with me in March or April. I will be back for Christmas though.

“I’ll miss a lot of things, like our good Irish cooking, Barry’s Tea, the hurling, football and rugby”, he said.

Cmdt McDermott will leave for the Philippines early next month to train with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which last year visited more than 69,000 detainees in prisons around the Philippines and assisted about 57,000 individuals displaced by conflict.

Cmdt McDermott is originally from Salthill, Galway, where his father Frank continues to live. He has a brother Declan and a sister Mary, who both live in Galway.