Years after his death, a mother still doesn't know how mental health services failed her son

Elaine Clear’s son died by suicide in 2014. Eight years later, she is still seeking answers: ‘The help he sought did not in any way resemble the help he got. He had asked for help, not punishment.' Niamh Griffin and Noel Baker report

Elaine Clear and her son Rory Hogan. Elaine's son Dan took his own life eight years ago. The photograph Rory is holding shows the brothers with Dan on the right hugging Rory. Photo: Moya Nolan

Over eight years on from her son’s death by suicide, Elaine Clear is still seeking answers as to why the children’s mental health services he attended were not able to help him.

Sitting by the fire in her home, she flicks through a memory book recently compiled by her son Dan Hogan’s friends. “It’s still so unexpected, it’s eight years,” she said. “It’s still shocking, it’s like a bomb goes off and everything is changed.”