Last week, RTE One aired a documentary ‘Memorial – The Story of HIV/AIDs in Ireland’, in which members of different communities in Ireland told their stories of this crisis. Brian O’Mahony, Chief Executive of the Irish Haemophilia Society and member Colm Walsh, featured in the documentary.
Colm Walsh’s story was particularly poignant. He shared how both he and his brother Brendan were infused with the same batch of blood one day; Brendan contracted HIV while Colm did not, but was infected with Hepatitis C instead. Colm discussed the stigma around HIV in the 1980s and the fact that Brendan kept his diagnosis to himself. When he died, his family did not know what had caused it and it took time before they learnt this information.
Following the documentary, Colm did an interview for the Irish Independent on the same subject, going into more detail about Brendan and their life together as young men. This is pictured below.
The RTE documentary is available to watch on the RTE Player by clicking here.