Red Cross photo exhibition

The Irish Red Cross are celebrating their 75^th birthday this year by dipping into our archive to help remind us all of their achievements so far.

With the assistance of EuropeDirect, an exhibition of Irish Photo Archive prints featuring the Irish Red Cross entitled “A History of Humanitarian Action” was installed upstairs at the Blanchardstown Library on Friday, and is open to all visitors.

Irish Red Cross National Competition, 21 June 1958

We all know the Red Cross is one of the first organisations off the ground whenever a disaster strikes anywhere in the world, but national branches also work within their own communities too. Its members provide ambulance and rescue services, create information booklets for home carers, and organize activities for youth groups across the country.

The Irish branch of the Red Cross was set up in 1939, just in time to deal with the ravages of the Second World War on Europe, the ‘Emigration Decade’ that was the 1950s, the trauma of the Troubles in the North – not to mention numerous floods, storms, and other tragedies.

Some of the images picked by the IRC from our archive include a presentation of the President’s Cup, Princess Grace visiting children at a Red Cross party in Dublin Zoo, and simulation of emergency situations for training purposes.

Part of the Red Cross exhibition at Blanchardstown

The IRC have been in operation for so long it is easy to take their work for granted. Hopefully, this exhibition will make people reflect on the amount of time, effort and energy the 5,500 Irish Red Cross volunteers pour into the organization each year, and have been doing for the past 75 years.