“It became a growing concern among various organisations in Waterford that, we as a city, needed to do something about suicide,” according to Fran Gleeson, who co-ordinates Waterford’s Suicide Prevention Action Plan.
The plan, the first of its kind in Europe, seeks to address an issue which sadly has the potential to become exacerbated during these recessionary times.
In Waterford city alone last year, Central Statistics Office data suggests that eight people died by suicide, with 486 lives lost nationally.
And with contributors to last Thursday’s ‘Tonight With Vincent Browne’ programme suggesting that the actual figure is more than likely in excess of this figure, the need to reverse this worrying trend couldn’t be greater.
