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Irish Independent
23-07-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
Louth suicide prevention groups concerned at ‘worrying spike' in tragic deaths
'We have noticed a worrying spike in the number of suicides in the county over the last month and we want to let people know that we are here to help,' says Mark Gordan PRO of SAFE Castlebellingham, a mental health and suicide prevention charity set up following the deaths of two young brothers in 2021. The community rallied together to provide a free confidential service so that people in crisis could avail of support services. Now, in response to a concerning number of deaths by suicide, the charity have erected two large billboards, one in Dundalk and one in Drogheda, with the message 'Your story isn't over: give it until tomorrow' and details of how to contact their services. Mark himself knows how suicide may seem as a solution to people who are in a dark place. In 2015, with a failed business and bailiffs taking away his son's xBox, he ended up 'in the tide at Annagassan with a bellyful of whiskey'. 'Little did I know that the tide was going out so I ended up in the muck and clamoured back up the rocks and went home.' 'I wish that this organisation that we have now was there ten years ago,' he says of SAFE Castlebellingham. Mark has turned his life around and he and a group of other locals in the mid-Louth area want others who are despairing to be able to do the same. 'We have erected the posters at Hill Street Bridge in Dundalk and at at Georges Square in Drogheda where Lower Mell meets the Bridge Of Peace, as well as digital signs at Junction 20 on the motorway and at Ballymascanlon and across from the Louth County Hospital, sponsored by the Byrne family and Niall Clarke Oils.' The message is simple – if people reach out to them and other support services such as SOSAD and Pieta, they will be listened to. 'We are not blaming anyone. We believe we are a positive story. We're a group of concerned citizens sitting in a room and saying we have this problem and what can we do to solve it.' 'We decided to so something to stop the devastation caused by suicide in the county.' SAFE Castlebellingham offers a confidential helpline that people can ring. 'It can be the person themselves or their family, their friends, their mates, their Mum, Dad, brother, sister, son, daughter. They can ring and say they are worried about someone who is in a bad place and we can tell them how to support that person. We will provide that counselling and we will pay for it.' The helpline is open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week and staffed by volunteers who are specially trained to deal with people with suicidal inclination. 'We don't miss calls and we talk to people in a sympathetic and empathetic way and tell them what we can do to help them. We have three qualified counsellors on our panel who can provide support until they access other services. What we are doing is providing a buffer to make sure that people aren't lost. Suicide doesn't do appointments and when people are in a bad place, we are ready and will to help people. We give them the space to hold on. We want them to take a breath, to step back and le t people help them.' 'We want people to get help, to reach out so that we can help them when they need support and not next week.' People who are contemplating suicide do so out of desperation as they feel that the pain of carrying on living is too great, he says. There can be signs that they are contemplating taking their own lives. 'Sometimes people will joke that things would be better if they weren't there. They might give away belongings, their record collection, jewellery or other things that were precious to them. And they might seem to be in good form but the reality is that they have made a plan to end their lives and as they see it their problems.' Mark urges people to reach out to their loved ones and to ask if they are okay. The stark reality is that men of all ages are more at risk of dying from suicide than women. '75pc of suicides are male, ' says Mark. 'Three times as many women will attempt suicide but only 25pc will complete it.' He believes that it's women's ability to talk and share problems with friends that help them, while men are much less likely to talk about their problems. In a bid to reach out to men, SAFE Castlebellingham are rolling out a number of initiatives to engage with men of all ages. They have linked up with Jenny Coyle Meehan to provide YOGA for men, with a class this Thursday July 24 in at Muirhevnamor Community Centre in Dundalk, with booking at 087 186 5959. There are also plans to host events in settings where they can reach out to farmers who are a vulnerable group. In Dundalk, Maxi's Law is another group born out of tragedy – in this case the death of the hugely popular and well-known character Maxi Mark Kavanagh. The group are calling for a change in the legislation so that anyone who presents seeking treatment for mental health issues at a HSE facility receives immediate support, and that if this can't be provided in the public system, that the state should cover the cost of treatment in the private system. 'This is about ensuring that no one is left waiting simply because they can't pay. It's a fight for equality and fair access to mental health services for all.' They are now calling on the public to email their elected TD's urging them to support their demands.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariffs are tanking tech stocks, so why is Microsoft escaping the worst of the bloodbath?
As Microsoft celebrates its 50th anniversary Friday with a Seattle event spotlighting its latest AI developments, investors are likely breathing a sigh of relief: the company's stock has weathered the tariff tidal wave far better than its peers. Among the so-called Magnificent 7 cohort of tech companies, Microsoft shares have experienced the smallest decline since Trump's global tariff announcement Thursday, with some analysts pointing to its cloud computing offerings, and its broad base of enterprise customers, as being more protected from the worst impacts of the tariffs. Microsoft's stock price is down roughly 4.9% from its closing price on Wednesday, on the eve of the tariff announcement. Meta, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, and Tesla have each dropped between 10% and 15%, erasing tens of billions of dollars in market value. Only Google-parent company Alphabet has fared almost as well as Microsoft among the Mag 7, with shares selling off 5.5% over the past two days. Analysts told Fortune that Microsoft has an edge because it doesn't deal much in physical or consumer products—so it has less direct exposure to tariffs. What's more, Microsoft's focus on enterprise customers means that a big portion of its revenue streams are tied to long-term contracts, giving Microsoft extra stability. In Microsoft's fiscal year 2024, its cloud segment, which includes Azure, was the company's largest revenue contributor, generating about 43% of the company's total revenue. The companies that have low exposure to tariffs and higher enterprise revenue mix will likely be "safe havens,' Daniel Newman, CEO of analyst firm The Futurum Group, told Fortune. "Microsoft is among the best." Rishi Jaluria, managing director, software equity research at RBC Capital Markets, pointed out that Microsoft is not immune to tariffs, but it should be generally well-positioned. "The largest piece of their business is enterprise software, where they're selling cloud applications and infrastructure to corporate customers,' he said. 'Even if there were reciprocal tariffs, I don't know how you would tariff proper software services." Apple, on the other hand, would be heavily impacted by the tariffs if, say, iPhones become very expensive and the U.S. economy slips into a recession, said Patrick Moorhead, founder and chief analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. Meanwhile, he said, 'Amazon buys most of its products from China. Big tariff risk.' Microsoft, whose main hardware products are the xBox gaming console and various laptop models, sells 'so few products that it isn't spelled out in detail on their income statement,' he added. The company does invest, of course, in physical infrastructure like massive data centers to serve its Azure cloud, and Microsoft recently made headlines for pulling back on dozens of those investments around the world. But semiconductors, along with pharmaceuticals, lumber, bullion, and certain minerals, are currently excluded from the 32% reciprocal tariffs announced by President Trump. Reduced corporate spending by Microsoft's customers could become a challenge, analysts agreed. But while it's difficult to say what will happen over the coming weeks and months, even if there are more reciprocal tariffs that trigger a recession, Microsoft should still be more protected than consumer-focused companies, Jaluria said. Many of the services Microsoft sells to enteprise customers are important for running their businesses, and not easily cut. In addition, Futurum Group's Newman argued that AI is deflationary—meaning it can reduce costs by automating tasks—which is something Microsoft is deeply invested in through its Copilot software and Azure AI services. 'I expect companies to continue to invest in AI for agents and other tools that will enable them to lower operating expenses and reduce or manage headcount,' Newman said. This story was originally featured on
