Nine people, including an Irish missionary and a three-year-old child, were kidnapped from an orphanage near Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince on Sunday, an official has said.
Gena Heraty, the facility’s director, was among those taken from the privately-run Sainte-Hélène orphanage in Kenscoff during the early hours of the morning, according to Mayor Massillon Jean.
Seven employees and a child were also taken from the orphanage, which cares for more than 240 children, some with disabilities.
Attackers broke into the orphanage at about 15:30 local time (07:30 GMT) “without opening fire,” 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.
Gang members are thought to be responsible for the attack, Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister, Simon Harris, released a statement saying “intensive and ongoing efforts” to secure Ms Heraty’s release were ongoing.
“This evening, I want to reiterate our commitment to ensuring everything possible is done to bring about the release of Gena, her co-workers and indeed the three-year-old child at the centre of this case,” he said.
Harris added that teams have also been in “close contact” with Ms Heraty’s family and in touch with local authorities and the organisation she works for.
Ms Heraty, who has lived in Haiti since 1993, called the organisation that runs the orphanage – Our little brothers and sisters – early on Sunday to confirm she was among those kidnapped, a source told the AFP news agency.
No demands or ransom requests have been made, the source said.
Ireland’s foreign affairs department said it was aware of the case and was providing consular assistance.
Gena Heraty, who was born in Liscarney, County Mayo, has received numerous awards for her humanitarian work, including the Oireachtas Human Dignity Award.
She previously told the Irish Times that she had no intention of leaving Haiti, despite growing gang violence and threats to her own safety.
“The children are why I’m still here. We’re in this together,” she told the newspaper in 2022.
Since early 2025, Kenscoff commune, on the southern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, has been one of the city’s districts suffering from constant incursions and raids by Haiti’s criminal gangs, which already control most of the capital and large swathes of the interior of the country.
Haiti’s police, along with its Kenyan police allies and foreign contractors using weaponised drones, have repeatedly sought to dislodge the gangs from their positions and bases, but have not succeeded in pushing them back.
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.
On 7 July, six Unicef employees were kidnapped during an authorised mission in an area controlled by armed groups in Port-au-Prince. Although one employee was released the following day, five others were held captive by a gang for a further three weeks.
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.
UN Human Rights chief, Volker Türk, has warned that a surge in gang violence is threatening to further destabilise the nation, with a record 1.3 million people displaced by the disorder as of June.
The UN has said families are “struggling to survive in makeshift shelters while facing mounting health and protection risks”.
