Suicide awareness campaigner slams government cuts

SERIOUS SUPPORT Darkness Into Light Westport ambassador Cora Staunton and her Mayo Ladies football teammates pictured giving their support to this year’s event at Westport House. The event supports self-harm and suicide prevention centre Pieta House.

Edwin McGreal

A leading suicide awareness campaigner has criticised the government decision to cut €12 million from its mental health budget for the coming years.
Maeve and Alan Gallagher set up the first Darkness Into Light event in Mayo in aid of Pieta House in 2012. Alan, an Achill native, lost a family member to suicide some years ago.
Their event at Westport House has raised over €70,000 for Pieta House, the centre for prevention of self-harm and suicide.
Ahead of their fifth annual Darkness Into Light event next week, they’re calling on people to be as supportive as they can in light of the cuts announced by interim Health Minister Leo Varardkar last week.
“This event couldn’t come at a better time, just as the Government seem to think we do not have a problem with mental health in this country and it needs no extra funding,” Maeve Gallagher told The Mayo News.
“Earlier this week it was announced that €12 million is to be taken from the budget this year, money that had been previously ring fenced to cover an issue that effects thousands and thousands of Irish people, both directly and indirectly.”
This year Darkness Into Light will, for the first time, take place in five different venues in Mayo. Westport, Ballina, Claremorris, Shrule and Erris will all play host to the 5km run/walk which sees people get underway in darkness and cross the finish line as dawn breaks.
“We seem to be raising awareness and the government are basically telling us otherwise, so let me ask you, if there were no need for Pieta House and the services it provides, why have Mayo four new venues raising money and awareness? Why are people getting up from their beds at 4am in the morning to walk or run 5km? I’ll tell you why – it is either in remembrance of someone who died through suicide, to support someone who is in distress or because we all know we need to raise the funds ourselves,” said Maeve.
“It costs approximately €1,000 to bring one person through a full suite of therapy sessions in Pieta House, to bring them from the darkness into the light. To date, since 2012, in Westport we have raised over €71,000 so that’s a lot of lives I hope Westport DIL has saved, in the words of Pieta House.
“Thanks to your generosity of spirit we’ve been in a position to help thousands upon thousands of people feel more hopeful about the future but we need your support now more than ever,” added Maeve.
Westport Darkness Into Light takes place on the idyllic grounds of Westport House on Saturday, May 7 next. Registration in advance can be completed online (www.dil.pieta.ie) or at any of the following venues – Westport House (10am to 4pm daily); Westport Leisure Park (during opening hours) and Westport Town Hall (12 noon to 6pm daily).