May 05, 2005

57 victims of abuse take own lives in five years

IRELAND
One in Four

Ben Quinn - Irish Independent

AT least 57 survivors of residential institutions have taken their lives in the past five years.

That's according to a survivors' group which is to press for enhanced counselling services for people dealing with the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

A man who apparently threw himself into the Liffey in Dublin last week is believed to have been the latest survivor of the industrial school system to take their own life.

Tony Tracy of Right of Place, a state-funded organisation set up to help and support survivors of institutional abuse, said there had been 76 suicides since 1999 and at least 57 in the past five years.

Posted by kshaw at May 5, 2005 01:13 PM