I took a call this morning from a woman on the brink. Her sister is 29. She has a history of anorexia, borderline personality disorder, and, crucially... addiction issues. Her sister called us because they have exhausted every single option available to them, and because, after the Caoilte O Broin case, they know the likely outcome [...]
https://soundcloud.com/opinionline96/saved-from-suicide-daniels-story[/embed We take a lot of unusual calls on the Opinion Line; everything from runaway swans to the most intense personal stories of love and loss. One particularly heartrending call we received, last thing on a Friday a few months ago, was from Daniel. He called because he wanted to thank a local Garda who [...]
The most shocking thing about the tragic death of fashion designer and former model L'Wren Scott at the weekend seems, for most people, to be that she 'had it all'. Regularly photographed on the red carpet at glitzy events; an international jet-setter with a fabulous lifestyle and a celebrity boyfriend; and working in probably the most [...]
Conor Cusack's astonishing blogpost and discussion on RTE Primetime on Tuesday night has blasted open the issue of depression. Like well-known people such as Mary McEvoy and George Hook, the Cloyne man has spoken out in the wake of a terrible event to encourage others suffering from depression to seek help. Like the founders of wonderful [...]
The debate about the Protection of Life in Pregnancy Bill has been long, arduous, and bitter, but it seems set to pass through the Oireachtas before the summer recess. Part 2 (9) of the Bill, which covers cases in which the woman’s life is at risk due to suicide, has been the most controversial aspect, but [...]
We constantly complain about the weather in Ireland, but there’s a good reason for that; very few of us are more than one or two generations off the land.To a farmer, the weather is a life or death issue, and the poor weather we’ve had all year has proven disastrous for animals that would normally be [...]