Second Irish Red Cross Delegate leaves for Afghanistan

Brendan MacQuillan of Drogheda, Co. Louth will spend three months in Peshawar, Pakistan learning the Afghan language prior to moving into Afghanistan where he will work with prisoners and detainees. It has not yet been decided where MacQuillan will be based, with three alternative locations, one of which includes the Afghan capital, Kabul.

MacQuillan is the second of two Irish Red Cross Delegates to take-up a post in Afghanistan where he is joining another Louth man who also originally qualified as a mechanic, Maurice O'Neill. Based in Kabul, O'Neill heads the logistics team for the country which ensures the rapid delivery of vital humanitarian aid to people throughout Afghanistan.

His colleague, MacQuillan, is one of a number of personnel who will be working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visiting prisoners and detainees. For the last four years MacQuillan has worked for Pax Christi in Bosnia Herzegovina on a range of projects including Aid Transit, Logistics, Reconstruction and Income Generation.

Prior to this, he worked for ten years as a lecturer for the Dundalk Institute of Technology in the Mechanical and Engineering Department. A native of Drogheda, MacQuillan (43) had previously worked for the McDonnell company as a project engineer, having returned from Limerick where he began his career.

MacQuillan was educated at St Joseph's Secondary School before going on to study Mechanical Engineering at the College of Technology, Bolton Street, Dublin and Trinity College, Dublin.

Ends