RTÉ Investigates

As public anti-immigration protests reached boiling point this summer, RTÉ Investigates has been filming for a new feature length documentary announced to air this Thursday 19th September. RTÉ Investigates has been on the ground at the protests that have made the headlines, consumed massive garda resources and sent shockwaves across the political establishment in 2024.   

There has been an increasingly organised and aggressive anti-immigrant movement inflaming and taking over these protests, often led by highly vocal, media savvy operators. With greater frequence, locations designated for International Protection Applicant Sites, known as IPAS, are being attacked and torched.  

Across Ireland, local communities have publicly protested the prospect of hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers receiving state accommodation in their hometowns. For the past six months RTÉ Investigates has been filming at the protests and has spoken to many people with genuine concerns. 

However, RTÉ Investigates has also found that there is a small but influential element within the protest movement who have their own agendas who are spreading fear and division. 

The documentary highlights the use of disinformation to initiate violence, features first hand footage and expert analysis showing the extent of how the state has, at times, struggled to respond when these protests have gotten out of control, and raises questions around freedom of speech and intimidation of journalists, activists, business people and volunteers in this area.  

Medical experts have warned of significant health risks to members of the public after it has emerged that an experimental weight loss medication, which has no regulatory approval worldwide, is being sold on the Irish black market in a new documentary, RTÉ Investigates: Black Market Weight Loss to air tonight. Weight loss medication has become big business, with demand surging in recent years for a series of injectable pens that can help tackle obesity and diabetes. But with demand rising and supply restricted, a burgeoning black market has grown alongside it. 

RTÉ Investigates went undercover to examine how prescription-only weight loss medication is moving through the Irish black market 

During investigations related to the illegal sale of weight loss products, RTÉ Investigates discovered and filmed a woman based in Tuam, Co Galway, selling Retatrutide, an experimental medicinal product which is not approved for use anywhere globally, and still in clinical trials in the US. The woman, who is not a qualified doctor, advertises the product as "the most powerful weight loss treatment."  

RTÉ Investigates arranged to meet the woman advertising the product on social media in her Galway home. On arrival she supplied a package with a clear glass vial and several hypodermic needles, before offering to inject the substance there and then. Having been provided with no manufacturer or product information, RTÉ had the vial's contents independently analysed at a laboratory at University College Dublin with the results indicating it did contain Retatrutide. 

In a statement, Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Retatrutide, told RTÉ Investigates the product has not been reviewed or approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, or any regulatory agency anywhere in the world and therefore at this time no one can sell it for human use.  They stated, Any product falsely representing itself as a Lilly investigational product ....like Retatrutide, may expose patients to potentially serious health risks."   

Professor Donal O'Shea, consultant endocrinologist and the HSE National Clinical Lead for Obesity told RTÉ, having viewed the undercover footage: "That is completely mad. That kind of delivery of a medication to an individual would have you struck off the Medical Council register if you did it once. I can't get my head around that. You were offered a clear injection from an unlabelled bottle, and you weren't told where it was manufactured - it doesn't really get any worse than that." 

Earlier this year RTÉ Investigates examined the beauty industry and the sale of Botox-type products by people not legally allowed to do so. During that investigation, evidence of another illegal trade alongside it in the industry began to emerge - the sale of what sellers online refer to as 'skinny pens'. These medications are commonly referred to as GLP1s because they mimic a hormone in the body which regulates appetite, thereby reducing hunger and making the user feel full. 
   
During a six-month investigation, RTÉ Investigates found several individuals, who are not doctors, nurses, or pharmacists, selling prescription only weight loss pens and medication directly to the public. In some cases, individuals were offering to inject people with the substances, despite not being qualified to do so. The products included weight loss pens from Turkey, counterfeit Semaglutide pens and unlabelled glass vials containing clear liquid which were provided in packs with hypodermic needles. In most cases the products are openly advertised on social media as "skinny pens" or "skinny jabs".  

In one case, RTÉ Investigates discovered a seller based in Dublin, who was advertising not only on her personal social media but also on many buy and sell sites in Dublin, Carlow, Wexford, Wicklow, Athlone, Meath and Louth.

At an undercover meeting she sold a pen which she said she purchased "outside the EU". RTÉ later established the woman travels to Turkey and has done so eight times so far and purchases 30-35 pens per trip. 

An RTÉ Investigates undercover colleague messaged her, and she responded immediately, saying "I have Saxenda injection pens. Same as Ozempic. One pen lasts 18 days and the price is 100 euros."  The two agreed to meet in a Dublin shopping centre for the purchase. It would be one of many RTÉ Investigates filmed over several months. During the exchange, the seller explained that she buys the pens outside the European Union. When our colleague asked about possible side effects from using the medication, she was told "it's just like taking paracetamol. They're very safe."  

"These medications are safe in high, high risk people,"says Prof Donal O'Shea about weight loss drugs generally. He says they are prescription only for good reason. "They have side effects and those side effects are nausea, vomiting, [but] you can get inflammation of your pancreas, pancreatitis. I've had two patients end up in intensive care based on kidney failure after starting these treatments," he said. 

Pharmacist, and former president of the Irish Pharmacy Union, Kathy Maher, told RTÉ Investigates there would be increased risks to the user of such products related to how it was transported. "To transport medicines that are fridge only products through heat and Turkey, through airports, through people with an ice pack, it already puts the quality of the product in question. And then to supply to patients that are going to inject it, it's a huge risk" she said.  

The Health Products Regulatory Authority, the body responsible for policing GLP1 medication and other prescription medication in Ireland said it has repeatedly warned of the health risks associated with the use of GLP1s that have been obtained outside of the legitimate pharmacy setting and without a prescription supplied by a doctor providing professional oversight.  

In updated figures released to RTÉ Investigates, the HPRA has confimed it has detained 1,469 units of GLP1 products this year, close to three-times the volume detained in 2023. In addition, up to the end of November, 456 web addresses linked to GLP1 products were removed or amended. That is more than double the 172 web addresses removed or amended in 2023.  

The HPRA also confirmed to RTÉ Investigates that from the beginning of January 2022 to the end of November 2024, it has been notified of 385 reports of suspected side effects associated with a medicine containing a GLP1 substance with 28 of these requiring a hospital attendance. It is unknown how many of these relate to products purchased on the black market.  

RTÉ Investigates examines the Christian Brothers handling of their wealth and assets, as they continue to fail victims of abuse in a brand new documentary to air this Wednesday night on RTÉ One and RTE Player.
 

After last year's Scoping Inquiry predicted a vast scale of historical child sexual abuse in Irish schools, and recommended redress for victims, the Christian Brothers stood out, with the largest number of schools and the highest number of allegations.

Once powerful, the traditional educator of Catholic Irish boys, the Christian Brothers order is still one of the richest. Its aging trustees hold on to an extensive property portfolio and a significant stake in the present, and future, of Irish education.

As a new wave of victims prepare to seek justice for abuse suffered in schools, RTÉ Investigates reporter Rita O'Reilly examines what the Christian Brothers order owns, how it's handled property and school lands, and how convicted abusers previously helped manage its assets.

Two leading doctors in gerontological care have described as shocking and disturbing undercover footage to be revealed in an RTÉ Investigates documentary tonight examining standards of care in several residential facilities owned by Ireland's largest provider of private nursing homes.

The company at the centre of the allegations, Emeis Ireland – previously known as Orpea – has apologised to residents and their families for the distress caused by the failings identified in the RTÉ report, saying it has launched an in-depth review to immediately address all issues identified.

The investigation which focuses on two nursing homes – The Residence Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor in Glasnevin in north Dublin – uncovered multiple examples of care failings and neglect of vulnerable older residents.

"This is going to shorten people's lives and the lives that they have will be more miserable because of the situation that they're in," said Consultant Geriatrician Prof David Robinson. "It's abuse – there's no other word for it."

Following detailed concerns raised by several whistleblowers, RTÉ Investigates had two undercover researchers simultaneously apply for and secure healthcare assistant roles at the Emeis homes. They both had all the required qualifications and were garda vetted by RTÉ.

At The Residence Portlaoise, where up to 101 residents can be accommodated at a weekly cost of approximately €1,200 per week under the Fair Deal scheme, RTÉ did witness some staff provide good care but more often saw repeated instances of staff shortages impacting daily resident care. The Fair Deal scheme is a state support system that helps cover the cost of nursing home care in Ireland, based on a person's income and assets.

This included large groups of residents being congregated together in day rooms, vulnerable older people being left unsupervised resulting in resident falls and day-to-day requests going unattended to for lengthy periods of time such as pleas to be put to bed or use the toilet.

"What we're looking at is largely institutional abuse and this is neglect in a setting which is supposed to be caring," said Prof Robinson.

RTÉ's undercover carer also witnessed multiple examples of poor manual handling with older residents frequently lifted under the arms and without the required use of proper handling equipment contrary to best practice. On some occasions staff were hampered by a lack of available equipment, while in one instance management also instructed healthcare assistants not to use hoisting equipment in public areas for fear their poor technique would be seen by visitors.

Prof Rónán Collins Consultant Geriatrician said:  "In healthcare what causes burnout is people who go to work and come home day after day feeling frustrated because they're unable to provide the level of care they knew they should be providing or wanted to provide".

In Beneavin Manor, in Dublin, which can provide care for up to 115 adults for approximately €1,400 per week with Fair Deal funding, another RTÉ researcher saw similar patterns of staff under pressure. Staff also faced constant challenges when it came to the supply of essential resources with recurring shortages of basic items such as towels, bedsheets, sanitary wipes and gloves.

"It's pretty shocking to be honest with you," Prof Rónán Collins said. "Really one would have to ask in terms of supply chains why staff don't have access to the equipment to do their job appropriately?"

At Beneavin Manor, RTÉ also witnessed the inappropriate handling of vulnerable residents with frail older people sometimes moved by their clothing instead of using the correct handling equipment mandated in their care plans.

"There's no regard for the person," Prof David Robinson said on seeing RTÉ's footage.

 Another expert, Prof Amanda Phelan,  School of Nursing, DCU asks: "How can staff work under those sorts of conditions? It's very, very challenging." 

Having witnessed repeated poor practices, RTÉ Investigates had both researchers hand in their notice and report all their concerns to management at the nursing homes and to the regulatory body, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). HIQA told RTÉ both The Residence Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor have set out compliance plans to address issues at their homes with reports from recent inspections of both centres currently being finalised.

In a statement, Emeis Ireland said the evidence of poor care delivery, improper moving and handling of residents, and a lack of dignity and breaches of residents' rights are deeply distressing, adding that it does not tolerate any individual or systemic neglect or practices. Offering its sincere apologies, the company said this is not the standard of care they expect and not what residents and their families deserve. It is also to review staffing allocations at both The Residence Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor.