Wexford’s litany of sadness tells depressing tale

EIGHT years after Stephen Byrne drove the car containing his two sons and himself off Duncannon pier, three years after Sharon Grace drowned herself and her two daughters on a lonely stretch of Wexford coastline, and one year after the Dunne family were found dead in their house in Monageer, last weekend’s events in Clonroche have once again stunned the south-east.

These tragedies all had the common dark theme of a parent killing their own children.

Attention is once again focused on Wexford, and there’s no doubt that the county has suffered more than its share of murder-suicides in recent years.

In April 2005, Sharon Grace drowned her daughters Abby and Mikahla at Kaat Strand outside Wexford town, hours after calling to a local hospital and being told that there was no social worker on duty over the weekend.

The tragedy prompted the establishment of a national working group to look at the issue of out-of-hours social work cover.

Three years later, no such cover exists.

The working group completed its work and, presented its report to the Health Service Executive.

Recently, the HSE has issued statements that it is involved in discussions but there’s no sign of the report being implemented.

While there’s no indication that Diarmuid Flood sought health services’ help in the days prior to his shocking actions on Saturday, a poster outside a Clonroche GP’s surgery reminded people of what’s available for worried, depressed or suicidal patients —– or, more tellingly, when it’s available: “Please lo-call, 9am to 1pm.”

IMPACT has said it doubted 24-hour cover could be provided without a big recruitment drive.

Meanwhile, Barry Grace —– husband of Sharon —– was one of the founders of the 24/7 Suicide Action Group, set up to campaign for improved mental health services.

Another founder was Mary Dunne, mother of Adrian Dunne whose body was found in Monageer a year ago along with that of his wife Ciara and daughters, Lean and Shania.

In 2000, the concept of murder-suicide was relatively unknown, but that changed with the deaths of the Byrne family from Cuffesgrange in Co Kilkenny. After Stephen Byrne drove himself and his sons Alan and Shane to their deaths, the stabbed body of his wife Maeve was found at their house.

Since then, it has been a litany of sadness.

While murder-suicides are not confined to the south-east, with incidents also occurring in Donegal, Cork, Clare, Cavan, and Dublin, the shocking nature of some events has drawn attention again and again to Wexford.

This week brings the memories back for the families of Stephen and Maeve Byrne, Sharon Grace, Adrian and Ciara Dunne, and others who have succumbed to the ultimate sacrifice.