By Online Desk
Sinéad O’Connor was a truth-teller. Perhaps her most visceral truth of all was how she showed us her suffering – and how she was desperate for it not to be in vain, writes Hannah Jane Parkinson in her column in The Guardian.
Fans in Ireland bid adieu to the singer on Tuesday.
For all mothers of Suicided children.Great Tibetan Compassion Mantra https://t.co/N7LT8NLa26
— Sinead Marie-Bernarde Aoibheann O’Connor (@786OmShahid) July 17, 2023
A few days after O’Connor died, adds The Guardian column, a man relayed to the Irish Independent an encounter he had had with the singer: she had comforted him in the car park of St. Patrick’s, where his son was receiving treatment. “I’m concerned that if we hadn’t had private healthcare, my son might not have made it,” he told the paper.
Last year, O’Connor’s son Shane reportedly absconded from suicide watch at the Tallaght hospital, a state-run facility in Dublin. He ended his life, aged 17.
O’Connor said the “millions of people” with mental illness made her feel less alone. But she noted that not everyone “has the resources I have”. Mental health services have been decimated in both the UK and Ireland. In England, the number of beds has been slashed by 25% since 2010. In Ireland, paediatric admissions have fallen by 40% in a year due to lack of staff. The stats are endless in their deathliness, the column noted.
Sinead O’Connor saw it all. Felt it all with utmost intensity. And sang it and said it as she saw it.
Sinéad O’Connor was a truth-teller. Perhaps her most visceral truth of all was how she showed us her suffering – and how she was desperate for it not to be in vain, writes Hannah Jane Parkinson in her column in The Guardian.
Fans in Ireland bid adieu to the singer on Tuesday.
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For all mothers of Suicided children.
Great Tibetan Compassion Mantra https://t.co/N7LT8NLa26
— Sinead Marie-Bernarde Aoibheann O’Connor (@786OmShahid) July 17, 2023
A few days after O’Connor died, adds The Guardian column, a man relayed to the Irish Independent an encounter he had had with the singer: she had comforted him in the car park of St. Patrick’s, where his son was receiving treatment. “I’m concerned that if we hadn’t had private healthcare, my son might not have made it,” he told the paper.
Last year, O’Connor’s son Shane reportedly absconded from suicide watch at the Tallaght hospital, a state-run facility in Dublin. He ended his life, aged 17.
O’Connor said the “millions of people” with mental illness made her feel less alone. But she noted that not everyone “has the resources I have”. Mental health services have been decimated in both the UK and Ireland. In England, the number of beds has been slashed by 25% since 2010. In Ireland, paediatric admissions have fallen by 40% in a year due to lack of staff. The stats are endless in their deathliness, the column noted.
Sinead O’Connor saw it all. Felt it all with utmost intensity. And sang it and said it as she saw it.
