Dublin director wins international award for documentary about Finglas boy (12) who died by suicide

[Tony Sweeney]

Dublin director wins international award for documentary about Finglas
boy (12) who died by suicide
Amy Donohoe

A Dublin director has won an international award for his documentary
about a 12-year-old Finglas boy who died by suicide.
Alan Bradley received a Gold Award at the YDA Young Director’s Awards in
Cannes last week for his RTÉ documentary ‘Patrick: A Young Traveller
Lost’, which sheds light on the high suicide rates within the Traveller
community.
A jury of distinguished industry producers and directors selected his
documentary as the winner from an all-time high number of global
submissions.
“It’s exclusively Traveller voices in the film and it provides a space
for communities to tell their own story,” Mr Bradley told the Irish
Independent.
“The main story is about Patrick McDonagh from Finglas, who sadly was 12
years old when he died by suicide.
“It rang alarm bells throughout the entire community because of
Patrick’s young age. It was a devastating loss. It is heavy and it was a
hard film to make, Patrick had only passed away a year previous.
“It was still very raw and fresh for the grieving family. His mum and
dad, Pat and Michelle, share Patrick’s story, how they’re moving through
their grief.
“They shared the message of reaching out for help. It doesn’t need to be
this way, if you just reach out and talk, things can get better.
“That was hard, but in a way, it was positive as well, because it
allowed a space for them to remember Patrick, to talk about him. When
something is so sad, often people don’t talk to you about it because
they don’t want to upset you.
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“Pat and Michelle used his story for something positive, that was their
big driving force, that it wouldn’t happen to another family. That’s why
they wanted to share the story.
“A big thing that came out from the conversations was the discrimination
levels being huge. Around 80pc of Irish people in the survey said they
wouldn’t have a Traveller as a friend. What world does that create for
somebody like Patrick trying to navigate his future?
“That lack of ability to access the workforce, access employment, just
to have hope for your future. It’s a struggle, it’s a real barrier in
having hope for your life going forward. It’s really hard for the
Traveller community to get on and get ahead in Ireland.”
The documentary also explores the wider challenges facing their
community which Mr Bradley learned about when he attended a talk in
Kells, Co Meath.
“I went to a talk at the Hinterland Festival that was about the
different challenges based on the Travelling community and I was
shocked,” he said.
“I didn’t really know about the many issues facing the Travelling
community. The suicide rate shocked me. It’s nine times the national
average.
“Every single person I talked to had lost multiple family members. I
talked to Mags Casey, who’s an outreach worker, and she’s lost 28 or 29
members of her family from suicide.
“We feature Bernie Power from Kilkenny. He is a young Traveller in his
30s who would have experienced addiction and he was suicidal. Luckily,
he did reach out for help and he’s in a much better place now.”
Mr Bradley is currently working on two new documentaries to be broadcast
this Autumn. Patrick: A Young Traveller Lost, is available to watch on
the RTÉ player
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/dublin-director-wins-international-award-for-documentary-about-finglas-boy-12-who-died-by-suicide/a614773423.html?hConversionEventId=AQEAAZQF2gAmdjYwMDAwMDE5MC01MzY5LTdiMWMtYTQ5OC01YTRiMjJjOWVlMzfaACQ5ODVjMjA0NS1hZmM0LTQyMGUtMDAwMC0wMjFlZjNhMGJjZDfaACQ2ZmYyY2I0Mi1lYjFlLTQwYmQtOTU1MC01MjgyYmI2M2Q2NzgQMyWGpCdAlfdsv-sFCQlXfllTTC1CkmKshzo8VSNNsQ&utm_campaign=IN:DublinEye&utm_content=zone_name&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=independent&utm_term=1-0

[Eleanor Martha Burke]

I remember that documentary but I couldn't watch it because I knew it would be just too sad.

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[Tony Sweeney]

Yes very very sad Eleanor for sure as in the story told on LiveLine
today of a husband and father who was belatedly diagnosed with PSP think
it was called a progressivve neurological disease.

It should be up on the RTÉ Radio player soon enough for anyone wishing
to hear the fujl story told so wonderfully and lovingly by the man's widow.

Tonyl