Claire Byrne recalls being given the last rites after she contracted meningitis

Olivia Kelleher

Newstalk presenter Claire Byrne has revealed that she was given the last rites after she contracted bacterial meningitis at the age of fourteen.

In an interview with Newstalk Breakfast, Byrne said that the significant outbreak of meningitis in Kent in the UK, which has caused the death of two people, has brought back memories for her and her family.

“When I think back (on the experience) I was so out of it. I was so unwell that it is the experience that my parents had, particularly more so than the experience I had (that she considers). It was dreadful for them.”

The native of Mountrath, Co Laois, had whooping cough in the lead up to Christmas 1989. Byrne said that her “immune system was kind of shot.”

She recalls feeling extremely unwell in school one day in January 1990. She had an “intense, indescribable headache” during English prose class.

"The words started to move on the page. When you think about it the lining of your brain is swelling. You can imagine the pressure and pain. It is hard to move your neck. So I said to my teacher, ‘I think I have to go home.’

"They called my parents. My Dad came in and collected me. I remember it was snowing. I went home, and my mother put me to bed.
She gave me paracetamol.

"She phoned the doctor. The doctor was really busy because there was a terrible flu around the place. This was the time when doctors did house calls. He was racing all over the place. So he was delayed getting out to us.

"One of my mother’s friends was calling in the afternoon. And my mother said from nowhere, ‘I think Claire has meningitis.’
Now, she says she didn't really know what meningitis was, but it just popped into her head. So she obviously had an awareness of it.

"She saw how sick I was, and she knew, you know, parents' instinct. There was something badly wrong here.”

The broadcaster and journalist said that in hindsight it was a good thing that the doctor was delayed because when he arrived, she was sick enough for him to realise that it was “probably meningitis.”

“But I wasn't sick enough for it to be too late. So I didn't have the rash, which indicates sepsis.

"My memory of him coming to the house was that he came into the room and said to me ‘Can you stand up?’ And I remember trying to stand up. And I remember collapsing and that was it.

"What happened then, and it was told to me afterwards, was that he said, ‘we need to get an ambulance, and we need it now.’ He had dealt with a tragic case of meningitis the week before so I think there was an element of panic there.

"He forgot we had a phone in the house, and he drove back to his own house to phone the ambulance. I was taken to Portlaoise (Hospital) that night. I have little snatches of memory, but I was in and out of consciousness.”

Doctors carried out a series of tests, including a lumbar puncture. By the following day she was sitting up in bed in hospital “in great form.”

“That was a Wednesday. Then I got very sick on Thursday night. Really, really sick. I got the last rites from the priest who was in the hospital."

"I remember seeing my parents kneeling beside the bed, and I remember the oils going on my forehead. I remember the words being spoken.

"But I was so sick that I wasn't alert enough to be scared. You know, I was very much at peace with it. I was also hallucinating.

"I saw frogs in the sink. I saw a picture of my family up on the wall at the hospital, which didn't exist. Now, whether that was me going down the tunnel or just hallucinating, I don't know."

Byrne says that she was rushed by ambulance to Cherry Orchard Hospital in Ballyfermot in Dublin. Whilst in the ambulance, her mother had to slap her to keep her awake.

“Her job was to keep me awake. That was her instruction from the doctor I remember saying ‘please leave me alone.’

I have no memory of Cherry Orchard in the first couple of days. I was there for two weeks. I remember not being able to stretch my neck because the swelling was coming down. My sister was training to be a nurse in the UK at the time she came home and slept on the floor of the hospital for two weeks.”

The 50-year-old says that she was “very fortunate” to escape long term side effects such as sight or hearing loss, brain damage or limb loss from sepsis.

“I didn’t have any after effects. I was so fortunate. But for about two years I had extreme exhaustion. I would come home from school and fall asleep for a couple of hours. But apart from that I got away Scot free. I was extremely lucky.”

She said that her family GP acted very quickly and that it was his reactiveness in recognising the seriousness of the situation that made all the difference to her outcome.

Byrne adds that it is vital that people know the symptoms of meningitis. Symptoms of meningitis and sepsis include a high temperature, cold hands and feet, vomiting, confusion, breathing quickly, muscle and joint pain, pain mottled or blotchy skin, spots or a rash, headache, a stiff neck, a dislike of bright lights, being very sleepy or difficult to wake and fits.

Meanwhile, there has been no increased activity of meningococcal disease in Ireland, following a fatal outbreak of the illness in the UK.

In 2026 to date, there have been 12 cases of meningococcal disease reported in Ireland, with no deaths reported.

Meningococcal disease can affect people of any age, but it is most common in babies, young children and to a lesser extent, teenagers and young adults.

The advice from the HSE is not to wait for a rash to develop before seeking help.

“If someone is ill and getting worse, get medical help immediately. Call 112 or 999 for an ambulance immediately or go to your nearest emergency department (ED) or ED for children if you think that you or your child is seriously ill."