Gerry Adams - a caring society

•  

 Bereaved mothers who have lost sons to suicide have pleaded with political parties to prioritise mental health.

The women, who have set up the Circle of Hope suicide support group on the northside of Cork City, issued their plea yesterday, as Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams met them and several other groups involved in suicide support programmes.

They told Mr Adams, and his party’s two candidates in Cork North Central, TD Jonathan O’Brien and Thomas Gould, how five young people in one small area of Ballyvolane and Dublin Hill died by suicide within a few months of each other in 2013.

Link for video:

Gerry Adams in Limerick - Irish Examiner

“It was a horrible year — one after the other. Our group came out of that,” said Lynda Haynes.

Her son, Corey O’Callaghan, died by suicide three weeks before his 21st birthday. Fiona Mackey’s son, John, took his own life a few months later. He was 14.

Ms Haynes said the pain never leaves, but having a support group, where people can talk and remember their loved ones, helps them cope.

“Everyone knew Corey. He was just an old soul. It was like he was here before. He gave his heart and time to everyone. He was so happy-go-lucky,” she said.

Corey left a note in which he said he had the best friends. “But he also said he had pain — pain we didn’t see,” said Ms Haynes.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams waving to some of the staff and children looking out the window from the Little Learners Educare room as he left following a visit to Togher Family Centre, Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane

“I think he just got tired. He counselled a lot of people. The one person he needed to help was himself.”

Ms Mackey said John left two notes for his family.

“He didn’t do this to cause us pain. It was to get rid of his own pain, but we don’t know what that pain was. Only for this support group. I wouldn’t be here,” she said.

Both women told Mr Adams they want politicians to commit to mental health awareness campaigns.

“Money doesn’t come into it. We fundraise ourselves. We just want them to commit to awareness,” said Ms Haynes.

Mr Adams praised the support groups and called for an all-island approach to tackling suicide, including the introduction of a sustained advertising campaign modelled on road-safety campaigns.

“These groups can take some succour from the fact that even though some of them have lost loved ones, they have saved a lot of other people by the work they are doing,” he said.

“There are people alive today who would otherwise be dead only for the advocacy work and awareness work they are doing.”

Statistics show 459 people — 368 men and 91 women — took their own lives in Ireland last year, but the real suicide figure could be as high as 1,000.

“Despite the fact that 644,000 people — one in seven adults — have experienced mental-health issues in the last year, successive governments have neglected the mental health area,” said Mr Adams. He said if Sinn Féin was in government, it would increase the mental health budget in year one by €35m, complete the rollout of suicide crisis assessment nurses, and reverse cuts to guidance counsellors.
By Irish examiner reporter Eoin English

***

My own experience during the twenty-five years that I have lived in this part of Ireland, is that I have known several people from different walks of life who have taken their own lives and when the financial downturn came that number unfortunately grew.

SACRILEGE IN GOUGANE BARRA

St Finbarr's Church,  Gougane Barra 

(Guágán Barra)

A shameful theft has taken place of a stone altar from within the grounds of St. Finbarr's Church, Gougane Barra, which many believe may have been part of  ritual focus in pre-christian times.

St. Finbarr, an early sixth century Irish saint, is said to have had an oratory on this site and Gardaí in Co. Cork are investigating the disappearance of the pilgrim altar at the famous island church.

Divers have been searching the surrounding lake in the hope of finding the  stone, which was first noticed missing last weekend.

The slab, about four feet in length which was situated in the ground at the rear of the chapel, is known to be at least 350 years old and might have belonged to St. Finbarr.

Local historian Seán Ó Súilleabháin said the altar stone forms an integral part of the Gougane Barra pilgrimage ritual:
 "The altar stone was one of a number of stops on the 'rounds' here in Gougane Barra. Pilgrims stop at the stone and use a small stone to score the sign of the cross on the surface of the stone.

He added: "We don't know who stole it or what the motivation behind this is.
"It was a very foolish act as people around here strongly believe that bad luck will follow the person that took the stone from such a sacred site."

The altar stone was first noticed missing last weekend but it is believed it may have been taken up to three to four weeks ago.

Neil Ó Luasa, owner of the nearby Gougane Barra Hotel, said the local community is deeply upset by the removal of the sacred altar.
"The altar is a big heavy flagstone and it would take at least three men to lift it.

"We have two theories: that the stone was lifted and thrown in to the lake, or that it was carried in the opposite direction and put into the boot of a car."

Members of the Cork-based Atlantic Divers Club responded to a request from the parish priest, Fr Martin O'Driscoll, and carried out an extensive search of 

the surrounding lake yesterday evening.

"I think it's safe to say at this stage that the altar is not in the lake," 

said Mr Chambers.

Local Gardaí are investigating the theft and are asking anyone who might have witnessed suspicious or unusual behaviour at the popular tourist spot in recent weeks to contact Macroom Garda Station.

The missing stone altar

The Guágán Barra area, and indeed the whole of south Cork, south Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula, is composed of old red sandstone. 
The characteristic layering or bedding of the sedimentary rocks can be clearly seen in the high cliffs around Com Rua at the head of the Guágán Barra valley. The Lake lies in a rock basin carved out in the ice age and nowhere does it reach depths greater than 12 meters it is also the source of Cork's famous River Lee.

Irish Valentines

©dreamtimes.com

Jimmy and Mary first met as teenagers working in the Whitegate oil refinery in Cork in 1957. Mary worked in the canteen and always made a point of serving Jimmy, and a relationship eventually blossomed.

Both subsequently emigrated to England - Jimmy to Oxford and Mary to Liverpool. The romance continued with Jimmy visiting Mary until a misunderstanding led to a breakdown in the relationship. They parted ways and didn’t hear from each other again, until a note was passed to Jimmy in a restaurant in Cork 54 years later.

The prayer
“I remember one night kneeling down and saying my prayers and I asked God because now I’m 74 years old and I’m alone and I don’t want to be alone anymore could he fix it to send me a female friend just for company,” says Jimmy. “And then I was cheeky…I said God - how about Mary Kelligar?”
Born on Saint Valentines Day 1939 in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, Jimmy uttered his prayer six weeks before making a planned holiday back to Ireland from the UK in May 2013. On that trip, his cousin approached him while out for a meal with family and asked for a quite word in private. She handed him a note.
The note

Mary visited Ireland frequently with her son, who works as a teacher in Liverpool. After a  trip back to Ireland in 2013, a chance conversation sparked between her son and the school secretary, who is originally from Cork, resulted in the two establishing a connection between Mary and Jimmy, who it turned out she knew. They conspired to draw up a note with Mary’s contact details, and somehow get it delivered to Jimmy.
Mary consented to the proposal but was sceptical about the note, suggesting in the unlikely event it found its way to Jimmy “he won’t want to bother”.
“I looked and I looked and I looked at the note and I thought, this is a wind up,” she says.
It took Jimmy a moment to get over the initial shock of receiving the note. His cousin explained how she had been the fifth person to handle it as it made its way from Liverpool. She asked him what he was going to do. He said: “Nothing.”
The reunion
But Jimmy did eventually call Mary. A meeting was arranged and Jimmy travelled to Liverpool to see her for the first time in 54 years.
On the coach journey, he was gripped by fear and doubt. “What will she be like? She’ll have changed. This won’t work out. I might not be the same as what she visualised me to be.”
But his fear dissipated when they met face to face, and walked and talked as they had all those years ago. Finishing each other’s sentences, both said they felt as if “we were never parted”.
The pair returned to Ireland on holiday two months after reuniting, and revisited all their old haunts. They are now in a relationship again. Jimmy still lives in Oxford, and Mary in Liverpool, but they visit each other about once a month.
Return to Ireland
Jimmy is no doubt now about the impact their reunion has had on him: “It rekindled that time… and I’m not ashamed to say it I’m like a teenager all over again.”
Jimmy and Mary are in the process of moving back to Ireland together permanently from the UK. They plan to spend their remaining years together in Midleton where they first met as teenagers.

“Life is too short, why not be happy,” Mary said.

© Irish Times

Small tour of Cork & Kerry

We took a few days off from the treadmill of life to go sight-seeing around the counties that lie to the West and South of us.

The Shannon ro-ro ferry that plies between Killimer in Co Clare and Tarbert in Co Kerry saving  many miles tedious driving.

Shrone Beg showing the Paps of Anu in the background and in the foreground a spring well that has been venerated continuously for thousands of years; today it is known as Mary's Well, prior to that it was named after three female saints whose names closely resemble ancient pagan deities.

Inch Beach is a 3 miles long by approx. 3/4 mile deep peninsula with sand dunes and provides a natural breakwater to Castlemaine harbour to the east.

The speed limit through the small village of Adrigole on a well dressed tarmac surfaced road is safely signed as 60 km/h (35 mph) So it came as a surprise to me to see that the speed limit on twisty, stony boreen (track) was signed as 80 km/h (50 mph) ! I wonder who in Cork County Council is responsible for this bit of mis-management and whether they were sober at the time of signing the appropriate order ?

We visited Eyeries a small picturesque town where every building is painted a different colour. Eyeries nestles on high ground between the Slieve Miskish and Caha Mountains. It was holding a Family Day in aid of the local school, here amongst the many stalls we found a friend of ours selling her Eco-wares.

I am drawn like a magnet to businesses that sell good food and wine. One such place is Val Manning's Emporium at Ballylickey, a few short miles west of Bantry. Here we managed to find a table for two and in warm sunshine we feasted on Lemon Polenta cake washed down with delicious coffee and enjoyed our talk with Val, who is a legendary conversationalist with a wealth of knowledge on many subjects.