Man begins suicide-awareness cycle

A Leitrim man will today set out on a 550-kilometre cycle from the South Pole Inn in Kerry to the North Pole pub in Co Donegal…

A Leitrim man will today set out on a 550-kilometre cycle from the South Pole Inn in Kerry to the North Pole pub in Co Donegal to raise awareness of suicide.

Tony Lunney (27) from Carrigallen said the rate of suicide in Co Leitrim was higher per capita than anywhere else in the country.

Mary McTernan from the Leitrim-based Suicide Teach Organise Prevent organisation said that mental health services were being neglected despite the huge death toll.

All the money raised in the cycle will go towards the organisation, which was set up by Ms McTernan and her husband John after their son Garry took his own life.