LISA BRADY: Eating disorders predominately affect females. As a mother of two young daughters, I find that terrifying... but not surprising. Ireland has never had an unblemished record with women's health

Published: 12:48, 10 June 2026 | Updated: 12:48, 10 June 2026 There are some pieces of radio that stay with you long after you’ve switched it off, and the hour recently devoted to eating disorders on Liveline was one of them. Devastated parents rang and in emailed, detailing the horror of watching their daughters disappear before their eyes.  Girls as young as ten who refused to eat; 14-year-olds wanting to stop living; a college student barely existing, trapped in a cycle of fear and hospital admissions. And all their families can do is cling on to hope, praying that a miracle might happen in a healthcare system that only seems to take action once a child’s life is precariously close to being lost. As the mother of two young daughters, I found it terrifying. And I found myself wondering something else too. If this was happening primarily to boys, would we really accept it? And all the families of girls suffering from eating disorders can do is cling on to hope, praying that a miracle That is not a comfortable question, but it’s like this. While eating disorders can affect anyone, the reality is that they disproportionately affect girls and young women.  And let’s face it, Ireland does not exactly have an unblemished record when it comes to taking women’s health seriously. The callers painted a picture of a system not fit for purpose, that’s designed to react to crisis – when a child hits severe malnutrition and a BMI that requires life-saving hospitalisation – rather than early intervention. One mother, Maura, described how her daughter Rebecca first came into contact with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) at just ten years old and, at one stage, was dismissed as attention-seeking before being discharged. What followed was a devastating relapse that resulted in months spent moving between medical and psychiatric units, and with it the loss of five years of countless milestones that should have belonged to any teenager. Rebecca’s father also spoke, describing his daughter’s anorexia as having stolen entire chapters of his family’s life, bringing with it grief, guilt, fear and the constant feeling that despite your best efforts you cannot keep your child safe. You could hear the pain in his voice. Then there was Niamh, now 22, who is in recovery from anorexia and offered powerful insight into how an eating disorder is never really about food at all. Suffering: eating disorders are surging in Ireland At its core is profound emotional pain and suffering. Starving herself, she said, somehow made living feel easier and, like many others, she had to travel to England to get the care which saved her life. Her experience reflected what many families describe as one of the central failings in eating disorder treatment in this country – get them into acute hospital care, fed and home – while the underlying psychological causation gets little attention. One of the most powerful things Niamh said was that people with eating disorders need someone to walk beside them and hold the hope until they can hold it themselves.  That line stopped me in my tracks because that was the common thread in the discussion – hope – despite all the heartache, the exhaustion from fighting for CAMHS referrals, waiting lists and being part of a failing cycle. Sometimes, hope is all these families have. The statistics suggest this is hardly a niche problem. We know eating disorders are rising; our society, social media and culture essentially feed them. We know early assessment and evidence-based treatment significantly improve the likelihood of recovery. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental health issue – so why then is there such paucity of adequate services? Why are there 14 counties with no access to treatment services at all?  Why are there just 20 beds available for under-18s in CAMHS inpatient units, and, unbelievably, only three adult specialist beds in St Vincent’s Hospital in the entire country? And where is the national conversation around eating disorders? We have launched public awareness campaigns around concussion in young males playing grassroots sport.  It’s great that that’s happening, but surely we need similar support for an issue that predominately affects girls? Where is the education that eating disorders are rarely about vanity, dieting or food? Struggling: there are inadequate treatment services for children with eating disorders here Girls should not have to lose their periods, their cognitive functioning and almost their lives before they are taken seriously. I am not ignoring the fact boys and men suffer from eating disorders too. But I find myself wondering whether we would be quite so comfortable with years-long waits, patchy services and parents pleading on national radio for help if the majority of those affected were teenage boys. The Government points to increased funding, additional specialist teams and plans for more dedicated beds, all of which are welcome. It’s been seven years since the Model Of Care was published to improve treatment for eating disorders, and 11 of 16 agreed national community teams for adults and children/adolescents are operational. But its not enough. No parent should be watching their daughter dying in front of them. So enough talk of ‘rolling out’ plans and promises of advancing beds.  Urgent action needs to happen right now - before more children waste away. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.