Lifetime Achievement Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is chosen internally each year by the Irish Red Cross.
At the April 13 Award event, the Irish Red Cross will present The Lifetime Achievement award to an individual who will be chosen from a list of candidates selected by the IRC Humanitarian Award Committee.
This individual will have demonstrated exceptional humanitarian achievement throughout their career and/or personal life.
Learn more about our 2021 Award winner.
The 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Catherine Coreless. Catherine Corless is known for her work in compiling the information concerning the deaths of children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Galway.
After gaining an interest in local history from attending an evening course, Corless decided to write an article about the mother and baby home inspired by her own childhood memories of the institution. She spent her spare time searching records in libraries, churches and council offices, after which she uncovered that 796 children died in the home and she identified that there were death certificates but there were no burial records.
She has received a number of awards in recognition of her work, including a People of the Year Award in 2018. Following the 2020 government report on deaths and abuses at Mother and Baby homes, the Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin called Corless a “tireless crusader of dignity and truth”. She is honoured with this years Lifetime Achievement Award.