Remembering Danielle Carroll who lost her life while in emergency accommodation
By Mary Dennehy
THE inaugural Danielle Carroll Summer School took place recently and while being held in tribute to a young Tallaght mother who lost her life to suicide, also facilitated debate around gaps in services for women.
The mother of two young boys, Danielle Carroll lost her life to suicide on August 30, 2017. She was 27 years old and living in emergency accommodation in Leixlip.
The Carroll family with contributors to the Danielle Carroll Summer School
The inaugural Danielle Carroll Summer School was held in memory of the young Tallaght mother and sought to pay tribute to Danielle and the “thousands of unaccompanied homeless women in Ireland today without support services”.
Under the event’s theme ‘What’s Killing our Women?’, the school also facilitated a day of wider discussion on the lack of support for many women in modern Ireland.
During the event, Danielle’s sister Caroline read a letter Danielle had written to the council days before her death.
According to Fionnuala Killeen, one of the organisers: “It was clear from hearing this letter read out that Danielle urgently needed and had requested more support services and was very isolated from her family for a period of months.
“It questions where are the support workers who are supposed to be assigned to assist families experiencing homelessness.”
Poverty is a very real barrier
According to Ms Killeen, Senator Lynn Ruane also spoke and highlighted that barriers need to be removed from women trying to progress from a position of poverty.
In her speech, Senator Ruane, who is from Tallaght, said: “Poverty is a very real barrier for women in accessing the most basic of human rights”.
Kitty Holland, Irish Times journalist, also led a panel discussion with experts who have experience in dealing with women in crisis.
According to Ms Killeen: “I felt the day was so powerful and actually captured the zeitgeist amongst a lot of mobilised and energised women who have had enough.
“The panellists were all experts in their field with a lot of combined experience of frontline services, media and many have set up organisations and campaigns in light of a failure of a government policy or inaction in an issue.
“The State needs to supply wrap-around support services and invest in services for women and children.
“The State is in denial that they are failing families and the economy is not improving for the majority of Irish citizens, even in households where two adults are getting up early in the morning and working.
“Families are struggling to keep their heads above water.”
Among all of the contributors, experts and campaigners that took part, the organisers Fionnuala Killeen and Michael Caul wished to thank Danielle Carroll’s family for attending the day held in tribute to the young mother-of-two.
Concluding Ms Killeen said: “We are looking forward to next year and will be hoping to resource a two-day event with a broader spectrum of topics and speakers, and in particular, give a broader focus to issues such as disability issues and those suffering with mental health, hugely under-resourced areas of care in Ireland today.
“The School will seek to broaden the representation to men’s health issues which are equally important.”
The Summer School was held in the F2 Centre, which is located within the community of Fatima in Dublin.
If you have been affected by this piece, contact HOPE Tallaght on 087 136 3082, Samaritans on 116 123, or Pieta House in Ballyfermot on 01-6235606, Lucan at 01-6010000 or Tallaght on 01-4624792 .
