Nationwide candle vigils bring suicide issue to light

CANDLELIGHT vigils will be held at venues across the country on September 10 to commemorate World Suicide Prevention Day.

Details of this year’s events were launched yesterday, with co-ordinating charity 3TS (Turning the Tide of Suicide) claiming the growth in the number of vigils reflected an increased awareness of the problem.

Next week’s World Suicide Prevention Day comes weeks after global experts on the subject of suicide met in Killarney to discuss the issue.

In previous years the 3TS charity had held a candlelight vigil in Dublin to mark the annual event.

This year, vigils will also take place in Co Donegal and in Co Galway, and on September 12 in Co Wexford.

The Dublin vigil will be held at the Bank of Ireland building at College Green in the city centre, beginning at 8pm. Author Christy Kenneally and professor of child psychiatry at University College Dublin Carol Fitzpatrick will speak at the event.

Broadcaster and author Gareth O’Callaghan will lead the commemoration at St Nicholas’s Collegiate Church in Galway, while mayor of Letterkenny Jean Crossan will lead the commemorations in the Co Donegal town.

On September 12, former Wexford hurling coach Liam Griffin will light the first candle at a commemoration at the Bull Ring in Wexford town.

Earlier this year, four members of one family died in Monageer in the county in a suspected murder suicide.

All commemorative events will be open to the public, and spokesman for 3TS Joe MacAvin said he hoped the vigils would help in highlighting the problem of suicide.

“It is hoped that by taking the World Suicide Prevention Day candlelight vigils nationwide, the 3TS will illustrate that suicide is an issue that concerns everyone in this country,” he said.

The charity has claimed that while suicide rates have increased in recent decades, the amount of money spent on mental health has fallen as a proportion of the national health spend in the same period.

The organisation is one of those involved in the Action on Suicide Alliance that is working on drafting recommendations on suicide prevention that will be submitted to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern this month.

The 3TS has called on the Government to provide 10 million in funding for suicide prevention each year for the next five years.