Enough talk, we must act on suicide - Mental health crisis

PROOF that mental health remains the most neglected part of the Irish health service comes from an examination of the suicide crisis sweeping Cork, as revealed in the Irish Examiner yesterday.

The statistics are horrific: In the city alone, 16 people are believed to have taken their own lives. Among them is a 16-year-old boy scout from Greenmount in the south inner city — along with two of his friends of the same age, a 15-year-old girl from Ballyphehane and a 17-year-old girl from Rochestown. Others include an 18-year-old boy from Mayfield on the city’s northside and a 44-year-old woman from Ballyphehane, proving that suicide is no respecter of class, gender or age. It affects us all.

The rate of suicides in the Cork region is almost twice the national average. That is the statistic but, beyond the numbers lies the real heartache, horror, and grief for the families and loved one left behind.