Clodagh Barry obituary: Altruistic clinician blessed with the common touch

Born: May 22, 1947

Died: October 29, 2022

Clodagh Barry, the powerful advocate for children and young adults with disabilities and inspirational tutor of physiotherapy students, has died following a short illness.

The Dublin-born physiotherapist regularly trained physiotherapy students from University College Dublin (UCD), the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on placement at the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) in Dublin where she worked for more than 30 years. And through her humanitarian work in Lebanon and Pakistan, she shared her professional knowledge and skills with physiotherapists and families in developing healthcare settings. In 2014, she received a UCD alumni award for physiotherapy in recognition of her outstanding contribution to clinical education in Ireland and abroad.

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At the CRC, Barry developed a warm working relationship with her patients, their families and the wider multidisciplinary healthcare team. She had a natural analytical ability to skillfully facilitate optimal movement in children and young adults with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and other congenital and acquired neurological conditions. And she recognised how exercise through skiing, horse riding and other sporting activities could enhance co-ordination, balance and self-esteem of young people with additional physical needs.

Eoin O’Rathallaigh, senior clinical fellow in anaesthesia at St Mary’s Hospital, London, who worked with her at the CRC, said that Barry was a “warrior for workers, patients and the marginalised. She embodied the art, science and humanity of physiotherapy. Through her work, her love and her friendships, she changed the course of many people’s lives.”

Colleagues remember her as a strong authoritative character who was nonetheless full of compassion, kindness and humour

As a clinical tutor at UCD, TCD and RCSI, she shared her knowledge and wisdom with hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Widely appreciated by both staff and students alike, colleagues remember her as a strong authoritative character who was nonetheless full of compassion, kindness and humour.

From the 1980s onwards, she made several humanitarian trips to the non-governmental organisation, SESOBEL in Beiruit, Lebanon, and the Aki Paediatric Rehabilitation Centre in Peshawar, Pakistan. Colleagues in Lebanon recalled how in 1983 on her first visit to the war-ravaged country to help families with children with disabilities, she worked fearlessly in challenging conditions.

Donna Fisher, clinical specialist in orthotics and prosthetics at the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Cappagh and the CRC travelled on several occasions to Pakistan with Barry and her husband, Andrew Semple, an occupational therapist. He also worked at the CRC for many years.

“We worked with hundreds of children, many of whom just turned up at the clinics having travelled for hours from Lahore and Islamabad to see us at what was the only centre for cerebral palsy in the whole country,” said Fisher. She said that she has a vivid image still of Barry “sitting on a mat, putting a child between her legs to play with whilst assessing the range of movement and muscle tightness. She was a very hands-on physiotherapist and a natural communicator. It was almost like she had huge arms that she enfolded these children and their families within.”

In the 1990s, Barry was a leading advocate for better pay and career progression for health and social-care professionals in Ireland. She was active in the trade union movement and was particularly involved in a dispute over pay and career progression for healthcare professionals that resulted in a countrywide strike of physiotherapists, speech therapists, social workers, occupational therapists, dieticians and others in 1997.

Barry was one of the Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union representatives who negotiated with the Department of Health, resulting in a Labour Court hearing in favour of the striking therapists. The Labour Court awarded salary increases and established new autonomous clinical specialist posts for this group of therapists within the public healthcare system.

Barry’s dedication to people with disabilities extended beyond the clinical settings and already an avid skier, she trained with the British Ski Club for the Disabled to give adapted skiing lessons at the Ski Club of Ireland in Kilternan. She was also very involved in inter-hospital staff tournaments in every sport from hockey to table tennis. In 1996, she took a year off work at the CRC to complete a Masters of Science (MSc) in Sports Medicine at TCD. She returned to work at the CRC until her retirement in 2012.

Throughout her life, Clodagh Barry was a keen sportswoman — both on and off the field

Barry grew up in Raheny, Dublin, the second of five children of a civil servant, Maeve Nolan and Irish Army lieutenant Ned Barry. She attended Manor House Secondary School and spent a year working in Roches Stores in Henry Street until she was old enough to enter the School of Physiotherapy at UCD. Following her graduation, she spent a few years working at St Mary’s Hospital in Montreal, Canada.

She returned to Dublin in 1972 and lived in the family home helping her father care for her sick mother and younger siblings. Her mother died in 1975. She also spent time travelling and working in Italy and Spain before coming back to Ireland to work at St Mary’s Hospital in the Phoenix Park. She took up the position as physiotherapist at the CRC in 1975 where she later met Semple, an occupational therapist at the CRC. A shared passion for skiing was the springboard for the relationship and the couple married in 1982. Their son, Barry Semple, was born in 1986.

Throughout her life, Barry was a keen sportswoman — both on and off the field. She played hockey, was a regular sea swimmer, sailor and rugby supporter. She was adept at cryptic crosswords and enjoyed tending her garden in Clontarf.

She is survived by her husband, Andrew, their son, Barry, her siblings, John, Kieran, Orla, David and Eoghan and her daughter-in-law, Claire.