Brilliant sunshine and a glorious Barretstown Castle awaited over 100 teenagers with Type 1 diabetes last weekend. Teens descended on Barretstown from all over the country for a weekend of fun, laughter and an opportunity to meet other teens “who got Type 1 diabetes”. 

Teens travelled from Donegal, with the earliest teenager leaving home at 3.30am to make the bus from Letterkenny University Hospital, Sligo, Cork, Kerry, Waterford and every county in Leinster, arriving by bus, car and train. 

Teens arrived to a warm welcome to meet others from their own school attending and not knowing they had Type 1 diabetes in common, to some who had seen each other in clinic but never spoken and others who were having their first overnight away without their parents.    

Alongside the teens were paediatric diabetes teams from 8 hospitals, Diabetes Ireland staff and volunteers, including many young adults with Type 1 diabetes and Barretstown staff and Cara’s all giving of their time to make the camp a success.  

And a success it was, with some teens catching their first fish, some canoeing for the first time to attending their first Barretstown “Carnival” as the sun went down where throwing wet sponges at the doctors and volunteers was a particular highlight. 

Having 100 teens at a camp was a dream come true for Dr Stephen O’Riordan and Diabetes Ireland CEO, Kieran O’Leary who together ran their first “Diabetes Teen” camp back in 2000. “Every year at camp we spoke about how we could open it to more teens, but we never thought we would see the day where it would be possible to have over 100 teens living with Type 1 diabetes at camp together. We are sincerely grateful to Barretstown, the paediatric diabetes teams and all the volunteers who made it happen.” said Kieran.  

He added “it is a huge operation to organise the camp, and I would like to sincerely thank Catherine and her team in Barretstown and my colleague Christina from Diabetes Ireland for getting us all to camp. And of course, the camp would not be possible without the teens themselves who together deliver the famous “Barretstown Magic”. Roll on 2026! 

Diabetes Ireland has a number of family events for members taking place over the summer months in Cork, Dublin and Mayo.

Join today and be part of the fun.