Eugene’s call to Focus on Romania

IN 2007, Romania became part of the European Union 17 years after the fall of Communism.
Last month Eugene Garrihy made his 20th trip to the country and after 18 years travelling to some of its most forgotten regions and institutions, the Doolin man found himself in Navodari.
“I witnessed young adults with their hands tied behind their backs, wearing head protection, lying in urine-soaked clothing and left to cry and moan in agony and pain in dark rooms. I also witnessed young adults with their hands tied behind their backs and strapped to chairs and lined up along the walls 10 to a room,” he recalled.
Eugene first went to Romania in 1992 with Trade Aid. When his daughter Aoibheann was in second year in Dublin’s Mount Sackville School, she mentioned his trips to a teacher and Eugene was invited to speak about his experience in the Eastern European country. This was the beginning of his link with the West Dublin school. He and a friend, John Mulligan, decided to join up with the school to form a pressure group called Focus on Romania to close the Negru Voda ‘orphanage’ and reform the Romanian care system using the country’s application for EU membership as leverage. This proved effective and Negru Voda was eventually closed and replaced by a centre of excellence.
For the past nine years, approximately 30 students from Mount Sackville self-fund a trip to Romania. They also raise money to take about 40 young adults from group homes and care institutions and bring them on a holiday to the beach.
“I have got to know a lot of these young adults personally and this is the only time they get out, once a year and they look forward to this,” Eugene outlines.
As part of these trips, the fifth year students along with Eugene visit Negru Voda and other parts of Romania.
“As part of this year’s trip I went to Navodari. I was absolutely shocked. I hadn’t seen anything like this over the past 10 years. I mean when you see these kids just thrown into rooms with their hands tied behind their backs, in kind of straight jackets and soaked in urine and moaning and crying. It would tear the heart out of you. So I immediately contacted the Romanian authorities,” he recalled.
“The kids from Dublin were absolutely shocked. They were weeping. They were crying. That was nearly as shocking as seeing the Romanian kids in pain. This will have an impact on those Irish teenagers, I have no doubt,” he went on.
Eugene met with the vice-president of the county. “He seemed shocked and appalled and he said he would immediately work towards getting that sorted out.”
But the North Clare man believes the problem is “much bigger than that”. He believes austerity measures in the country are causing lower moral among public servants and that “the blatant lack of care” he witnessed is “completely undermining” the efforts made by many dedicated staff on the ground and at management, county and government level.
“As with other European countries, severe austerity decisions have been implemented in Romania and these cutbacks are having the most appalling impact on the weakest members of society. It is totally unacceptable. If the European project is to regain some credibility, it urgently needs to address the very serious problems in one of its member countries. A problem which is easily solvable and needs to be addressed now as a matter of extreme urgency,” Eugene continues.
The Doolin man sees the conditions in Navodari as an indictment of the EU. He contacted public representatives at local, national and European level but he now wants to see others do the same.
“I am very conscious of highlighting this. What more we can do about it apart from highlighting it. The only thing I think people can do if they are genuinely interested in easing the pain of these people who are suffering in places like I have seen in Romania, is to highlight it to politicians,” he asserted.
“My heart goes out to the young adults who will continue to suffer tonight in Romania and to the 27 students and teachers from Mount Sackville School in Dublin who are shocked and disgusted and will bring the memory of those images with them through their lives,” Eugene concluded.