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Home and abroad, 80,000 turn out to walk from 'Darkness into Light' [pics]

There was a larger than expected turnout for the annual event, to raise funds for suicide charity Pieta House. Events were also held in London and Sydney this year.

Updated 19.55

Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

SOME 80,000 PEOPLE turned out early this morning for the annual ‘Darkness into Light’ fundraising walk and run for suicide and self-harm charity Pieta House.

There was a larger than expected turn-out for the dawn event, with some 13,000 attending the main Dublin location, at the Phoenix Park.

The charity says there were twice as many participants as last year at a number of the venues nationwide.

For the first time, the Irish overseas also took part — with thousands attending events in London and Sydney.

“I can’t believe the huge numbers,” Pieta House founder Joan Freeman said.

It’s a testament to how far we’ve come as a society – suicide is no longer something we fearfully brush under the carpet.

The theme of this year’s event was ‘Mind our Men’: statistics show men are four times more likely than women to take their own lives.

An estimated 80,000 peopl Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

Kathryn Doyle, Carole Connoly, Sharon Jordan and Susan Plunket at the Phoenix Park this morning.

The event has grown in recent years: in 2009, only around 200 people turned out for the Phoenix Park walk.

The charity has opened three new suicide and self-harm crisis centres — in counties Cork, Galway and Kerry — since last year’s event.

Pieta House was set up in Lucan, Co Dublin, in 2006, and receives 15 per cent of its funding from the State. It provides professional one-on-one therapy for those experiencing suicidal thoughts or engaging in self-harm,

Almost 4,000 people sought help from the charity last year.

Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

 

Walkers in Malahide, Co Dublin [Anthony Cole]

Read: Father-of-two works 20 hours a week for extra €2.38 on job scheme

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78 Comments
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    Mute Tony Stamper
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    Sep 7th 2011, 12:13 PM

    Merkel – Germany and France wanted the Euro, even though economist after economist pointed out the massive flaws in it, the fatal contradictions, benefited massively from replacing the DM with a weaker currency, leading to a massive export boon for your state.

    Your country made it, ignored the economic reality, and now you aren’t willing to accept responsibility for the mess that was always inevitable. You are playing internal German political games to benefit yourself, and taking economic decisions at an EU level, to benefit Germany alone.

    European Union – My ass!

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    Mute Sean McGrath
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    Sep 7th 2011, 12:31 PM

    Tony, you are definitely right but its up to us to play the same game which we were trying to do but we got way to far ahead of ourselves, prices went too high on everything, wages went too high, everything went too high. I can remember national news celebrating that we were spending a billion a week a few yrs ago. Can’t blame ze Germans for that or the house prices….

    One thing we can take from this debacle is that the ECB is in Frankfurt for a reason and they are only looking out for Germany and France so we need to watch our own back from now on and play a smarter game.

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    Mute Neil
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    Sep 7th 2011, 3:21 PM

    @tony

    While there’s nothing more Irish than blaming others for our problems, it’s not really Germanys fault we are in the mess we are in. And I can understand German taxpayers not wanting to bailout countries like Ireland. The Finns hate that as well.

    Finland is a small country as well, and they have the euro, and they didn’t build up a huge governement expenditure on a property bubble.

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    Mute Gis Bayertz
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    Sep 7th 2011, 6:23 PM

    Spot on, Tony

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Sep 7th 2011, 2:00 PM

    In the early eighteenth century, to develop its new colonies France issued a fiat currency under the guidance of the Scot, John Law. This currency was shortlived and imploded with the Mississippi bubble.
    While many people lost heavily, one canny Irishman, Richard Cantilion, pulled out of the project before its demise.
    Like Cantillon, Ireland would be well advised to consider what its best options are and not leave it too late.
    http://mises.org/daily/4709

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Sep 7th 2011, 2:07 PM

    In the early Eighteenth century, to develop its colonies France issued a fiat currency under the guidance of Scot, John Law. This currency was shortlived and implode with the bust of the Mississippi bubble.
    Many people lost heavily. However, one canny Irishman, Richard Cantillon, who had been heavily involved withdrew before the project collapsed.
    Like Cantillon, Ireland would be well advised to see where his fiat currency project is going and not leave it too late to leave.
    http://mises.org/daily/4709

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