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.