NPH InternationalA trustee of the board of NPH Ireland has appealed to the kidnappers of Irish missionary Gena Heraty to release her.
Hugh Brennan described her as an “inspirational”, “resilient”, and “tough person” who wrote poetry.
Ms Heraty, who is originally from Westport in County Mayo, is the facility’s director of an orphanage in Haiti, and was among several people taken in Kenscoff, near Haiti’s capital, on Sunday morning, according to mayor Massillon Jean.
Mr Brennan has appealed “to everybody out there to do anything that they can to release Gena and all of the others”.
Ms Heraty oversees the orphanage, which is run by the humanitarian organisation Nos Petits Frères Et Soeurs (Our Little Brothers And Sisters).
It is in the commune of Kenscoff, about 10km (6.2 miles) southeast of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Attackers broke into the orphanage at about 15:30 local time (07:30 GMT) “without opening fire”, Mayor Massillon Jean said, describing it as a “planned act”.
The attackers had broken through a wall to enter the property, Jean said, before heading to the building where Ms Heraty was staying.
‘Gena would have known the dangers’
Mr Brennan told Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster Programme that “everybody in the area would know her, they know her as Madam Gena”.
“Yes Gena would have known of the dangers, and we had discussed this before, but this is now her life’s work, and she would feel she certainly cannot abandon the children with who she was working – they’re her family,” he said.
“We appeal to everybody out there to do anything that they can to release Gena and all of the others and that little child.
“We appeal to them to their own humanity – please, please, the work that Gena is doing is so important for your community, please release her,” Mr Brennan said.
Gang members are thought to be responsible for the attack, Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste has reported.
Gang violence and kidnappings are also common in other areas in and around Port-au-Prince, where the UN says armed groups control about 85% of the city.
In the first half of 2025, UN figures show that almost 350 people were kidnapped in Haiti. At least 3,141 people were also killed in the same period, the UN Human Rights Office said.
