{"id":794950,"date":"2026-10-07T15:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/794950\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T15:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:34:09","slug":"irish-experts-warn-about-sanctioned-australian-health-guru-hosting-talks-in-donegal-and-meath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/794950\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish experts warn about sanctioned Australian \u2018health guru\u2019 hosting talks in Donegal and Meath"},"content":{"rendered":"

IRISH MEDICAL EXPERTS have warned that misinformation spread by Barbara O\u2019Neill, an alternative health promoter who is banned in Australia from dispensing health advice, poses a danger to Irish patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill is due to give four days of talks in Ireland next week, as well as further talks in a tour of the UK.<\/p>\n

Letters sent to the venues hosting the events warn that they will likely spread medical misinformation and would be illegal if O\u2019Neill held them in her native Australia.<\/p>\n

The letters were signed by scientist David Robert Grimes and doctor Gary McGowan, as well as more than a dozen other doctors from Ireland, Australia and the United Kingdom, such as Aoife Ryan, Prof of Human Nutrition & Dietetics at University College Cork, and Colin Doherty, the head of the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a 28 September post on Instagram, published by David Robert Grimes and Gary McGowan, they say: \u201cBarbara O\u2019Neill is a self-described healer. Despite a ban in her native country, she gives lucrative talks, retreats and \u2018consults\u2019 worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill will give three days of talks at a conference centre near the border between Meath and Dublin.<\/p>\n

That event, called A Journey of Healing with Barbara O\u2019Neill, is hosted by a religious group that promotes \u201cBible based health principles\u201d, and is set to include talks on cancer, the \u201ctrue cause of disease\u201d and \u201crewiring the brain\u201d.<\/p>\n

A further one-day event is also advertised for a hotel in Ballybofey, Donegal.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill appears to be the only speaker at both events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2019, an investigation<\/a> into O\u2019Neill by the Australian Health Care Complaints Commission found that she had made \u201cdubious and dangerous health claims regarding infant nutrition, causes and treatment of cancer, antibiotics and vaccinations that are not evidence-based or supported by mainstream medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission found that the misinformation she spread \u201chas huge potential to have a detrimental effect on the health of individuals as Mrs O\u2019Neill discourages mainstream treatment for cancer, antibiotics and vaccinations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finding also permanently prohibited O\u2019Neill from \u201cproviding any health services\u201d, including educational services and psychological or alternative medicine treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, O\u2019Neill\u2019s followers believe her to be a martyr, sacrificing herself for their health in the face of the evil monolith of modern medicine,\u201d Dr McGowan told The Journal. \u201cIn reality, many of her solutions, such as her \u2018Wild Yam Cream\u2019, are more expensive than many of the cheap medications she criticises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of O\u2019Neill\u2019s claims condemned by both the letters signed by Irish doctors and the Australian commission\u2019s findings include misinformation about vaccines, infant nutrition, and the effects of antibiotics on children.<\/p>\n

\u201cO\u2019Neill claims she can cure cancer, that cancer is a fungus, and that it can be cured by diet,\u201d the letter signed by doctors and sent to the venues reads. \u201cAll these claims are utterly false and deeply harmful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorse again, O\u2019Neill consistently urges patients to abandon effective therapies like chemotherapy, scaremongering patients about medical treatment and engendering mistrust in healthcare teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Journal has contacted Barbara O\u2019Neill for comment, but no response was received by the time of publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IRISH MEDICAL EXPERTS have warned that misinformation spread by Barbara O\u2019Neill, an alternative health promoter who is banned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[23357,261555,102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-794950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-alternative-medicine","tag-barbara-o","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}