Failures that cost lives - Five years on and nothing has changed

FIVE years ago today — it was a Saturday — a depressed and rejected 28-year-old Sharon Grace, and her daughters, four-year-old Abby and three-year-old Mikahla, left this world because Sharon could neither cope with life nor get the kind of help from the State that might have got her through the terrible dark hours that led to three needless deaths.

Caught in the unshakeable grip of an all-consuming anguish Sharon walked into the sea, at Kaats Strand just miles from her Wexford town home, carrying and dragging her frightened toddlers with her.

Any parent, or anyone who loves a niece or a nephew, could be excused for not visualising the moment when returning to the beach was no longer possible. What we cannot be excused for is the outrageous fact that Sharon, and many more like her, sought help from us and we were found wanting.