My brother Ronan, a long term chronic depression and schizophrenia patient, was admitted to Cork University in the summer of 2005 to undergo treatment with the breakthrough drug, Clozapine. However despite our family's misgivings and protestations and against our wishes, he was discharged before he had time to become fully accustomed to this new medication.
Shortly afterwards he disappeared. He had very little money and no mobile phone. He had no passport and since all he had was a bus-pass, we convinced ourselves that he had just gone to Dublin for a few days. However following two weeks of no word and futile searching in Ireland, we took a decision to go to the national media to appeal for help. As a result of intensive media coverage, including the RTE News and the national press, we finally discovered that Ronan had somehow managed to fly to the UK on the day of his disappearance.
Our search then moved to London.
Extensive enquiries revealed that Ronan had returned to Heathrow Airport on a number of occasions. He was eventually ejected from the airport by the Metropolitan Police. Although forewarned of the seemingly insurmountable difficulties involved, my elder brother Martin and I, managed to crack the London media, garner the assistance of Scotland Yard and bluffed our way into the Irish Embassy in London. During our search we witnessed at first hand the appalling isolation and despair of the homeless in Ireland and London. We saw the darker side of London. We also encountered enormous support, assistance and goodwill from the most unexpected quarters. Against all the odds, we broke down wall after wall and with perseverance and some good fortune, we eventually found our brother, Ronan.
Following a period of care in London, Ronan returned home to Cork, where he lives to this day, safe and sound - a dearly loved member of our large family.
Ronan's story is timeless and is not only about mental health and homelessness. It is also about love, despair, hope and determination. It is about achieving the impossible.
I have been asked may times to write this story but I feel this is the moment to do so. The story deals with the two biggest human interest topics in the public and media forums at the moment. The homeless situation in Ireland and is now at crisis point. While there are numerous causes and reasons for homelessness, research shows that it is related to and often overlaps with the growing incidence of serious mental health issues, particularly in young men.
This is a unique and special story which I intend to market aggressively through radio, television and other media platforms as a means of highlighting the current crisis in Irish mental health care and the growing number of people needlessly living and dying on the streets of Ireland.