Cavan SOSAD volunteer and father, Brendan Fay, says he won't stop highlighting the lack of mental health services for young people in his area. The Belturbet father told Northern Sound the Government "keep doing the same things wrong and expecting different results" but, as far as he is concerned, he won't "let it lie" until proper services are in place.
For over two decades, Cavan has ranked either number 1 or number 2 for the highest rate of suicide in the country. Cllr Fay said to date, the government's attitude to dealing with the high incidence of suicide, has been one of "the community will heal itself" but, in his experience this is neither right nor helpful to those left behind.
Cavan County Council has recently written to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly asking him why "we have no services at either community or national level to deal with mental health issues. The letter was sent following a motion brought by Cllr Fay. "I'm not going to let this lie," he told Northern Sound, "I'm going to keep bringing these motions up and keep bringing these motions up because I feel very strongly that we've been doing the wrong thing for too long and getting the same results."
