Former Offaly star witnesses Syria crisis first hand
September 06, 2013
Former Offaly and Birr star Darren Hanniffy.
Hanniffy, who was part of the Offaly squad that won the All-Ireland SHC title in 1998 and picked up every major honour at club level with Birr, works for the international humanitarian agency GOAL.
The agency are on of only three international aid groups working on the ground in Syria, where they are supplying food and medical services to the people.
Syria is in the midst of a civil war as hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee the country and seek asylum elsewhere, while the U.S have threatened to launch at attack on the military presence there.
In an interview with the Midland Tribune, the Birr native revealed that Syria was one of the most 'devastated' countries that he has visited and that includes Afghanistan when the Taliban were still in control.
"GOAL is only reaching a tiny amount of those affected and unless the international community acts to address the underlying crisis of the conflict the situation is going to get dire very quickly for so many people. It's an unprecedented figure," said Hanniffy.
The Offaly man is set to return to Syria in the coming weeks for more aid work and he has urged people to donate what they can by logging on to www.goal.ie or by texting Goal or Goal4 to 50300.
Darren will also run this year's Dublin and New York marathons in a bid to raise funds for the agency. Tweet
