Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, wish all my colleagues, fellow family members and all females today a very happy International Women's Day. In particular, though, I thought about coming in here year after year to talk about International Women's Day and about what changes. I want to mention two very special women today, Rita and Caitlin Gaffney, whom I spoke to, and I have their permission to divulge this story and information. Rita is Caitlin's mother and she was married to Lar Gaffney who was a wonderful man by all accounts. Unfortunately, Lar passed away in October last year. Caitlin, whose grandfather died and then her father, Lar, was diagnosed with a terminal illness, began a battle against anorexia. In August last year, Caitlin's mam contacted me after having totally exhausted all the means she had to ensure her daughter's survival. Caitlin was 17 years old, and having spent eight weeks in the earlier part of 2023 in Wexford General Hospital was now in her fourth week in University Hospital Waterford.

If you can imagine it, a fine, tall young woman of 17 years of age weighed 36 kg on entering the hospital. During the four weeks she spent four weeks in that hospital under supervision of a dietician - albeit not a paediatric dietician - her weight decreased to 32 kg. She was assessed by staff at Aislinn who said that, unfortunately, in order to enter an eating disorder facility, she had to weigh at least 40 kg in order that they could be sure she was compos mentisand had the mental capability necessary to allow her to understand the treatment that would ensue.

When Caitlin's mother contacted me on the Thursday evening before the August bank holiday weekend, I could not believe it. I asked her mother all sorts of questions such as who the psychiatrist or psychologist was and if Caitlin had been in CAMHS. She had been in CAMHS but had never seen a psychologist and one had never attended the hospital where she was a patient. To be fair, University Hospital Waterford is not equipped to deal with anorexia as a condition. It is a mental health condition. Despite the hospital's best efforts, no intervention was made to have Caitlin moved to a facility like Linn Dara or Aislinn. I spoke to the psychologist who confirmed to me that he would make contact with Caitlin's mom, Rita, that evening. I contacted Rita and told her the psychologist I was going to call her but asked her to let me know if he did not and I would meet her at the hospital the following the morning. What else could I do? There was no contact made. At 9 a.m. the following day, I went to the hospital with Rita and two of Caitlin's sisters, bearing in mind that Rita's husband, Caitlin's father, was lying at home with a carer with a terminal illness. This was August. He died in November.

I am talking about the stress that was placed on this family and on Caitlin's sisters, Ciara and Orlaith, to keep her alive. I was told in the hospital that she was at the point of no return. I soon came to understand that what that meant was that organ failure would ensue. It might have been kidney failure or heart failure that would affect her, but all efforts and the onus were placed on Caitlin's mam to keep her daughter in bed in order that she would not to expend any energy. What this condition does to a person is just unbelievable. It was unbelievable that this young girl could have been left in this state, literally to die, and we are celebrating International Women's Day.

Getting Orlaith moved happened in very arduous circumstances. It was fought on all grounds, from it being a bank holiday weekend to having to get a court order to force-feed her. I do not want to relive what happened. The reality is that Caitlin is still in Linn Dara. She was released for the day to go to her father's funeral. The failings meant that Caitlin did not spend time with her dying father. It is a failure of this State to provide the most basic care. There are hundreds of people in Wexford alone who are suffering the same fate under CAMHS and the CDNTs, and still we come in here week after week and all we hear is that there are recruitment issues. I spoke to Caitlin before coming to the House. She cannot come back. There has been a conference call between Linn Dara and CAMHS in Wexford. The staff in Linn Dara are recommending that Caitlin should not return to CAMHS for fear that she will regress. They are prepared to give her out-of-care services, which means her mother will have to make runs up and down to Dublin or maybe even move to Dublin to ensure that her daughter recovers.

I am sorry for getting upset but I am facing stories like this every day. It is important we do better. We can only celebrate International Women's Day if we practice what we preach. It is not good enough to celebrate women all over the world who do not face adversity like this getting accolades for their achievements in different sports. Do not get me wrong, those women deserve to be commended but not when we are failing the most vulnerable in our society and when, every day in this Chamber, we say that those facilities are there. I have expressed that Ministers bury their head in the sand when I come into the Chamber to tell it as it is. They continually tell me that there are no waiting lists for CAMHS. I have told them why there is no waiting list but no investigation takes place; nothing further happens. We are just lucky Caitlin is still here to tell her story - and tell it she will - but the reality is that we do not know what issues she will face in the future. I do not need to go into those issues. However, I will say this: on my list for International Women's Day are Rita Gaffney, her three daughters and her late husband Lar.

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