'Urgent action' call on suicides

Relatives at the funeral of Declan McCluskey

Urgent action must be taken to tackle the rising number of suicides in north Belfast, a Catholic priest has said.

Fr Aidan Troy was speaking after a family in the area suffered their second bereavement from suicide.

Declan McCluskey,32, was found dead earlier this week. His older brother took his life nine years ago.

There have been at least 15 suicides in west Belfast in a three-month period this year with seven deaths occurring in one week in April.

Mr McCluskey's funeral took place on Friday.

Fr Troy said there must be "an emergency response" to the issue of suicide among young people in the area.

"There's a sense that there's something totally out of control now.

"We've been here before, we're here again," he said.

"I don't want to make Declan just another statistic but if, God between us and all harm, these were road deaths or sectarian killings, I think we would be visibly calling for a lot more to happen."

Earlier this month, families of people who have taken their own lives in north and west Belfast called for more counselling funds.

Last year, community groups in north Belfast appealed for action over an alarming rise in suicide among young people in the Ardoyne area.

In a two month period at the start of 2004, 13 young men in the area took their own lives.