Independent Wexford TD Mick Wallace reads a statement from the sister of  Kenneth Rowe (top left), a beloved resident of Bridgetown, County Wexford, who took his own life last January.

Via The Wexford People, January 16, 2018:

‘In a eulogy, Kenneth’s father Peter said his son grew from a dearly loved baby into a loving, mischievous, free-spirited young man, full of life and love was always determined to overcome any obstacle in his way.

‘As a child he was obsessed with tractors and machinery and very often up to no good. As young adult he got through some difficult times with the love and support of close friends and family,’ said Peter.

His early twenties were years of amazing adventures. He travelled near and far – Mexico, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Morocco, New Zealand and many other countries.

His favourite form of transport was a motorbike and when he visited other countries his loved to head off into the countryside and see how ordinary people lived.

‘He always wanted to meet real people. When he finished his travels, he went about getting every other vehicle license he could, from motorbike to artic.

‘And then he bought his first horse ‘Manny’ and that was the beginning of a whole new phase in his life with Eddie, Queenie and Millie joining the scene. In the middle of all this he worked as a rigger, a lorry driver amongst other things.

‘Between the horses and dogs he found lots of time to hang out with friends, neighbours and anyone who would stop and talk to him. If you said hello to Kenneth you could end up talking to him two hours or two days later.’

Kenneth (32) Kind, Thoughful And Respectful (Wexford People via Press Reader)

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12 thoughts on “Can’t Go On

    1. Joe cool

      The severe lack of mental heath services in wexford. The national average of 100,000 people likely to die by suicide is 8.8%. wexfords average is 11.1

        1. Daisy Chainsaw

          It’s not favourable when it’s your son/daughter who’s died by suicide. In the last few weeks, a couple of teenagers have died, one was only 13. Mental health services in Wexford are a joke and it falls to volunteer groups to pick up their slack, but there’s only so much well meaning volunteers can do.

          1. MaryLou's ArmaLite

            A poor choice of word.
            The point still stands, to say our suicide rate is high is plain wrong, it is actually lower than most.

          2. Cian

            You need to be careful when using national statistics.
            While Ireland may compare favourably, different parts will be better/worse than others. You should also take into account the population breakdown.

            If suicide is more prevalent in, say, 20-45 year-olds you need to look at the proportion of this cohort within the county. Almost half of Galway city is in this age group – compared to 35% of Wexford (Mayo is lowest at 32%). Based on this I would expect a higher rate of suicide in Galway.

          3. MaryLou's ArmaLite

            Suicide rate for men is 17.4
            Closer to the OECD average but still better than most other countries in the OECD

        2. Fact Checker

          Irish men kill themselves at a rate four times higher than Irish women do.

          Ireland’s rate of male suicide is a bit above OECD averages, probably would be a lot higher with easier access to firearms that you find in many places. The rate for women is below the rate abroad.

          Highlighting individual cases doesn’t really cut it for me (I’m a numbers guy) but raising awareness of it as a big problem for men’s health is probably no harm.

  1. postmanpat

    Poor fella kills himself and this man uses his name in pointless grandstanding . I’d hate the idea of a politician breathing my name after my death , although id be dead so I guess Id never know. Id a least leave a suicide note with clear instructions not to politicize my decision. I reckon a lot of suicides do and get ignored by grief stricken family. Time delay dead man switch email to everyone in the address book is the way to go . There I go again!! White people problems….

  2. Spaghetti Hoop

    He was clearly very loved and enjoying life. But what happened to him that made him take his own life? Was it depression, a traumatic event, a relationship breakdown, financial issues, low self esteem? People need to diagnose the problem in order to treat it. The article fails to state what went wrong – so how can the state be blamed for not helping him?

Comments are closed.

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