North Belfast News , 20 February 2004

We say:

Community rising from the ashes

After one of the hardest periods in its recent history the community of Ardoyne is slowly but surely rising once again to face one of the biggest challenges ever.

The morale of people in the area was in their boots last weekend when young Barney Cairns took his own life only hours after the burial of his close friend Cheeta O’Neill.

The anger, frustration and tension in the community last weekend was palpable.

Even a prayer meeting called last Sunday to give people a chance to show their sympathy for the victims of suicide was momentarily disrupted as anger directed towards the INLA and drug dealers operating in Ardoyne almost spilled over.

Wiser counsel prevailed and great credit must go the efforts of Fr Aidan Troy, the community workers and local Sinn Féin representatives who succeeded in channelling that anger into something more positive and, in the long term of much more benefit to the people of Ardoyne, than venting the frustration shared by all.

The public meeting held on Monday between community representatives, the statutory bodies and the young people of the area was a great first step in fighting back against the sense of hopelessness and despair that had engulfed the whole community.

The people of Ardoyne talked and listened to the young and they left the statutory bodies in no doubt about the support needed on the ground this week.

The community dug deep into their own resources of knowledge, know how and energy, and pledged their own time and effort in an attempt to boost the district’s flagging morale and to tackle the immediate problems associated with suicide and self harm. They came up with local solutions involving opening up local facilities on a voluntary basis and making themselves available to youngsters at risk around the clock.

They demonstrated a generosity of spirit and a concern for the young people who are living on the margins of our community and they showed a determination to face up to the silent killer.

And they have refused to be distracted by a media which has not exactly covered itself in glory in its reporting of what is happening in Ardoyne and indeed North Belfast.

For this week the broadcast media and the daily papers demeaned the seriousness of what is happening in Ardoyne by homing in almost exclusively on the role the INLA has played in dealing with anti-social elements in the area, including the two victims of last week’s suicides.

And while this paper and the majority of the people of North Belfast totally reject all forms of paramilitary policing the causes of suicide in North Belfast run much deeper than the actions of the INLA, and the focus on that paramilitary group has distracted attention away from the key issues.

For there are many causes of the present spate of suicides which are linked to generations of institutionalised deprivation, poverty, neglect and the cost of living in a community which has suffered more than most through the Troubles and which even last night was still being affected by sectarian attacks on its fringes (The pro-british, unionist paramilitary organisation UDA demolished seven houses close to Ardoyne).

The statutory bodies involved in health and education pledged this week that they will work in partnership with the community who are at the coal face of dealing with the problem.

However, they have admitted that they too are poorly resourced and our politicians must take up the case for making more resources available to the health organisations, which will enable them to react more quickly to any future ‘clusters’ of suicide in any part of the North.

In the meantime we congratulate all those people in the community from the women’s groups, the local health centre, the Catholic Church, the youth providers and the Ardoyne Fleadh Committee who have risen to the challenge of protecting our greatest asset, the lives of our young people.