Vulnerable teen ‘wants to return home’
The woman, said to be a significant suicide risk, told Mr Justice Seamus Noonan by video link from the UK she would not take her own life and has plans for the future, including to go to university and run a marathon.
She thinks about Ireland “every moment of every day”, misses her family and friends and even “silly things” like Supermacs, fields and cows. “I have never gone though pain like this, it makes me feel so bad on the inside.”
When she realised the HSE was seeking to have her remain in England despite a High Court order last March that she could return home this month, she felt hopeless and believed, if left in the UK, her mental health would “really deteriorate”.
Asked by Mr Justice Seamus Noonan would she undertake a particular therapy — Dialectic Behavioural Therapy (DBT) — if returned home, she said: “I would be so happy to be home I would do anything you say.”
The judge has adjourned to Wednesday the further hearing of the HSE’s application.
The court has heard doctors anticipate, if the court orders the woman should remain in England, it will be for at least six months as DBT therapy is intensive.
