Vision needed to curb filicide

With great respect for Una Butler, I read the articles in the Irish Examiner (November 1) in which she revealed details of the heartbreaking experience of her husband who took the lives of her children and who subsequently ended his own life.

Sadly, this is not an isolated case.

Since 2000 in Ireland, there have been at least 23 cases in which parents took the lives of their child/children, involving in total 32 children. In 15 of the cases, the father or mother subsequently took his or her own life and in five cases the spouse or partner was also murdered.