Yeah, you don’t want to wish ill-will upon anyone but hopefully it wasn’t just someone crying wolf for a bit of attention. If it wasn’t I fully sympathize with this man and his family, but there’s something not quite right about being suicidal and then calling a radio station and chatting for hours.

Just shows how bad the health system in this country is towards mental health when a sick man has to resort to phoning a radio station for help

Michael I doubt it was a publicity stunt.. like Lorcan I think if a fella feels the need to ring a popular radio station to make his grievance heard, then there’s something wrong with how we deal with people with serious psychological problems.. to be honest I didn’t hear the call, I tuned in too late, but from the comments on here I get the picture.. Hope the fella gets the help he needs..At least we’re talking about the subject?

No Lorcan, that people with mental health problems do. You can’t blame the country for everything!

That is what people with mental health problems do.

I wish you could edit your comments here!

#prayforjay.

Reading

I don’t agree that it’s an indictment on the countries health system that this happened – many people receive all sorts of help before committing suicide. There’s ample service available for people with mental health problems it’s just no-one really knows where they are and a lot are being frivolously squandered on those who made bad choices rather than actually disturbed people.

Just a few points;
The instant it was established that this wasn’t your average call the radio station should have gone blank.
There are far too many emotive discussions below saying he wanted to be heard, the mental service are rubbish, they treat people badly, what if he had jumped had radio station gone silent…
We know the mental health service is in need of reform, we know it treats some people very poorly, neither of those things is news to anyone.
I would question this mans ability to take his own life, there are rumours below that this isn’t the first time it’s happened, and if that’s the case, then I would definitely question the mans ability to follow through, which would suggest in a clinical setting that he doesn’t want to follow through. Also, there are far more efficient, less spectacular methods of suicide than jumping off a bridge, or stabbing, or (as was mentioned below) electrocution on a transmission tower.
The fact is that it doesn’t matter if this gent were “serious” about suicide, if he were; a phone call to the local radio station is certainly not going to change anything for him.
I can only imagine how I would feel if I were a friend or a loved one of this man tuning into the radio station, or even a relative of someone who did take their own life, or someone who was contemplating suicide as a course of action, or someone who may have attempted suicide in the past.
Ireland needs to held a number of social discussions; suicide, assisted suicide, abortion, bullying, social media, mental health; none of those discussions needs to be at the behest of a man holding a knife on a bridge. These discussions are wild enough as it is. They need to be controlled, measured, honest, factual, informed, cold and clinical discussions, not emotive, or extreme, but realistic.
I hope this gent finds peace, and moves on from here.

Really well put James

James, The problem i have with with what you have said is that I don’t believe that these topics are talked about enough, we might read in the paper about some poor guy committing suicide and leaving a family behind but we don’t all talk about it! Our health system and system for treatment for mental health issues is in more than need of reform! What this guy and what the radio station has done is stirred up something that needs to be discussed, not just read about and forgotten tomorrow… We need to know why €30 million of funding for suicide prevention was spent elsewhere! http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/1229/1224328254932.html
We need to know why the HSE expect to increase waiting times for patients when they are cutting 4000 jobs just to save €721 million!
http://www.thejournal.ie/hse-plan-cuts-748533-Jan2013/
The country is being stripped bare! Ordinary people like this guy Jay are suffering! The fat cats don’t care! And we have people like you that would prefer if we just talked about things like good boys and girls!
When a person is will to stand on the edge of a bridge and scream for help he/she deserves to be listened to, and helped! At the very least we should be able to talk about it no matter what are opinions are off it! I hope people don’t forget about Jay! He represents a lot of people who don’t have his courage to ask for help!!!

Looking at your thumbs down I see people just like the colour red as I cant see anything abusive in your comment

Reading all the comments bellow and listening to part of tonight’s radio show, I am shocked and what the country has come to. I am even more shocked that a national radio station would allow a person to attempt suicide live on air.
I do not buy into the suggestion the DJ did his best under the circumstances on the night. It was clear from the start that this guy was unstable for many reasons. It was mentioned below that apparently the guy was on air with them back in May after having been up on the bridge threatening the same thing. If that true it makes it even worse as surely they keep some sort of list of callers that are a risk on air. Why did he cut to ads mid-crisis? So the station revenue was important at this particular time. Somebody suggested he could not cut him off as he may have done it but it was okay to cut him off for the comercials. Give me a break! And how many copycat calls will there be over the next month?
I am sure as also suggested that this practiced is outlawed by the body responsible for radio. I know it is in the UK as a friend worked in the BBC and was telling me that they had a delay system to stop this kind of thing on live radio shows. It concerns me what would have happened if the guy really did take his life on the air. Would that have been entertaining radio? I think not and I am sure jobs would be lost.
I am aware that this show and others dangle on the edge of legality but on this occasion i think they went too far. It seems they took advantage and a risk that the guy wouldn’t do it and rolled with the publicity which is the most irresponsible radio broadcast I have ever heard on a national radio station. Yes suicide needs awareness but this is not the way to do it. The radio station have left themselves wide open for every unsettled person to call in and do the same. Will they allow live murders on next to top that?

I mentioned this on another site and got told to F off. I wasn’t suggesting that only trained psychiatrists should present phone in talk shows, but given the topics they sometimes discuss on them it’s not so stupid to think they should have some sort of training in how to deal with things like this in general.

That’s a great facility, and thanks for sharing.

I know that more than once, on a sister site to this one (boards.ie), moderators and users were on more than one occasion confronted with someone claiming to be suicidal. These situations were above and beyond what these voluntary members of the community could be expected to bear responsibility for.

While participating in such a programme as ASSIST would obviously not change the ongoing policy on that site, which is not to engage for fear of doing harm, it would be of benefit to anyone not normally trained in such matters, and who feel they may encounter such a situation, be they internet moderators, people who work in a public sphere, or indeed radio producers or presenters.

I’m glad that the situation has not escalated, and hope the presenter kept the head and wasn’t too overcome or overburdened by the whole thing.

Surely radio stations who encourage emotive topics on ‘talk radio’ shows should be trained to deal with these types of situations, both in terms of callers and response from the station?I’ll be pretty startled if the chances of an incident like this happening hadn’t occurred to them before tonight.

Yes I did the assist suicide prevention programme great and it actually talks straight out about suicide. This young man seems to have gone unheard I hope he gets the care he has asked for and thanks to him he has highlighted suicide. This country is way behind in mental health care. Dark ages

Fair play Karen, he also know that he would be putting lives at risk by jumping onto a dual carraigway.

Roads were still closed off at 01:15 so doesn’t look like it

Absolutely there is massive stigma around mental health in this country and suicide is a huge problem. It needs to be discussed. The reason, however, for not airing things like this is that it can be considered to be triggering. There is legitimate concern that other people in an equally bad place hearing things like this could be pushed over the edge. There are very strict guidelines out there for how these things should be handled in the media, such as not providing too much detail on the attempt itself. That said from the article I believe there was no other choice but to continue to air at the time other than ending the call which was not an option.

Well said Jeff ..

I agree the issue is the mental health of this guy not whether it shud or shud not have been aired people have missed the point I hope they never have mental health issues and have to deal with ignorance.hope jay gets the health he needs.

or maybe not wanting the help he gets….

I’m sure there’s more sides to the story.
He may have been given help before but not cooperated, you have to take what he says with a grain of salt.
Yea, all threats to life should be taken seriously, but don’t take the opinion of a man with mental issues as gospel.

He’ll continue to do it, now that radio station such as FM104 has given him a voice. They have most likely given encouragement to others to do the same.

The chap suffers from psycosis joe, so yea there is a possibility he will do it again and again until he either get the help he needs and deserves or he succeeds in his attempt to end his life.. Maybe you should try not be so judgemental.

@joe- so it’s a bad thing that a radio station had given him a voice?

I’d pat them on the back for being brave enough to highlight the stigma that is suicide!

Lookin well katrina ;-)

Trying to kill himself in rte towers….ringing a phone in radio show more than once saying he was going to kill himself…does not sound like a sincere suicide attempt….just attention seeking…

Tanya i know a person who 6 times done something like that.. Eveyone thought in the end itd attention seeking.. Guess what.. He didnt fail on his 7 th attempt.

GAA players? Generalise much?

I’m not going to name him as that would be unfair!

I did not mean GAA players in the plural sense in case anyone thought I was suggesting there were loads of them at it btw!

No need to mention GAA at all. Thats just stirring. Was wrong what he tweeted but it has zero to do with the GAA

Yes Crow, there is. As GAA players they typically would gather a lot of followers that would receive those tweets. They have a duty to seriously think about what they are tweeting before pushing it out there. Whether intentional or not, any remarks that make light of such a subject is just poor form. I read the tweet in question and I think it was just bad choice of words the follow up from an inter county player though was a shockingly poor joke!

Seriously lads ye need to get a grip. The man is an individual. He’s not the organisation. He is not representing anyone only himself when he tweets. But then again I suppose no one is held accountable for their own actions seems to be the trend in Ireland at the moment. Why dont ye put the blame on twitter? Or his internet provider? or the makers of the device he used to tweet?

By association to a role or organisation, you have to take personal responsibility of what you tweet. If Barack Obama put a daft tweet out there, would people not associate that with his position as the President of the United States? No one is blaming the GAA here, just poor invidivual choice given the link to said organisation.

Apologies Ann, I made the same point above before reading yours.

Absolutely. A new low for FM104

Anything to chase ratings. Poorly handle. No professionalism.

Maybe the caller wanted it to be on the radio?

Did you hear it??? the chap wanted it aired.. He rang a radio station for gods sake, cause he knew this way he would get the help he needes, have’n turned away before.. Thats the problem in this country to many people are ignored and fall through the cracks. i say fair play to jeremy dixon, he said whatever he could to keep the lad from hurting or killing himself..

Obviously he’s not thinking straight but he rang the show because he wanted to be heard. Taking him off air and playing music for the listeners might not have been wise.

Are you joking? This man is suicidal and the place he wanted to reach was a radio station, the same station that he contacted months back to highlight the lack of help for him in this country!

Well done FM104! It was handled very well and with very little choice!!!

There are strict journalistic guidelines on how to deal with the topic of suicide. Putting a man live on air who is about to jump off a bridge breaks about half of them.

I agree katroina I was listening 2 him on the show a cry for help god love him

There not my guidelines, you imbecile. They were formulated to prevent exactly this kind of thing from happening.

You never broadcast a suicide threat. FM104 are going to be in serious trouble over this. Im surprised the journal has even repeated the proposed method with a file photo.

Come off your high horse

“Imbecile” ?

Joe, were you listening to the show? The man wanted his voice to be heard. He wanted to speak to the radio show. With all due respect the guidelines go in the bin.How would you like it if this man lost his life for the sake of adhering to some rules on a piece of paper. Jeremy did a great job dealing with the situation and hopefully the gentleman, after hearing what the listeners sent in by text, will realise that there are people for him to talk to.

YOU GUYS, SERIOUSLY… JOE HAS A POINT.
HALF OF THE RADIO GUIDELINES ARE TOTALLY WORTH MORE THAN ONE WHOLE LIFE! GOD!!!

The guidelines are there to protect life and to prevent further suicides from happening.

It was ratings gold for them other stations would have done the same its the media for godsake they dont care how they get there ratings up

Tony, Jeremy dealt with the situation in the best way he could at the time, there is no perfect approach to any spontaneous situation like this one so rest your criticism and at least see the positive side of what he has done by talking to the man. Stop looking for perfect way of doing it. Nothing is perfect, no one is perfect and every action is open to different interpretations but the line has to be drawn some where.

Bull.

To say it should or shouldn’t aired you would have to know if he could tell the difference.
It all depends on that answer.

Assuming the man didn’t jump, FM104 did right. Had the outcome been different due to different actions the station would have got the blame..

A mystery….

Jay was listening to the show live and asked that everything be aired. Jeremy could not refuse. Jeremy has probably saved this guy’s life tonight and should be commended for how he handled it.

Depends on the radio station’s layout. You cannot simply in human terms cut off a person who is begging for help. In a relatively radio station, there are ways to make the caller believe he was still on air by cutting the studio off and switching to an automated playback system. FM104 are relatively small and may have only the one on-air studio like loads of radio stations across the country. Everything goes through this studio, prerecorded shows, commercial breaks ect. If that’s the case in FM104, (and of course, depending on the setup) they couldn’t cut the studio off without taking the whole station off air. Larger radio stations who have multiple on air studios can cut one studio off but make the presenter and callers believe they’re still on-air. Hope this might explain why FM104 possibly couldn’t cut the caller off. Hope the man is alright because suicide is a terrible thing

Sorry, that should have been realtivly *large radio station

@feithin when fm 104 were in Hume house ten years ago they had three broad cast studios, I can only imagine that they certainly would have the facilities to shift broadcast and still allow a phone in to believe they were on air.

He’s got you and a lot of other people discussing the issues with mental health problems and the lack of support! its people like him that sometimes inadvertently brings about mass discussion of a topic can lead to changes being adopted by organisations and governments to help people like him! People that are willing to get off their couches and shout from the edge of a bridge deserves to be listened to… And helped!

There is a difference between not broadcasting the call and hanging up. No one ever suggested they should hang up on him.

He wanted to be broadcasted ciaran

Mental illness is just that, an illness. I don’t believe a suicidal person is in the right frame of mind to contemplate the repercussions of their actions. If they were thinking straight they would know to get help and that people care.

I’d would rather see truthful death certs then we might have a truer number of people who sadly resort to taking their own lives. Its a higher number than we think and still services are not available to those who need it.

How the hell do you know how the mind of a suicidal person, or any other individual, works. Ever heard of a cry for help? You know, when someone feels so marginalised that they have to commit an extreme act to get the help they need? A little compassion and human decency goes a long way.

I hope it doesn’t inspire any copicats.

It will

In complete agreement Linda. If the man has a substance abuse issue, that shouldn’t be used as an excuse to dismiss him.

He was going to jump off a bridge. Nope. Don’t think he is ok.

He is the producer

The dj in question is the producer filling in for the presenter.

Didn’t realise that. Thanks

Robin, who are you to judge this man? I dont see any glorifying of suicide. I see a man in difficulty trying to get help.

Well said Ricki

Selfish opinion

It was closed off. The only person he could hurt was himself, at least – that’s the impression the article gives.

There is a line where you feel compassion for someone commiting suicide while not harming anyone. However he was putting lives at risk

Hope you never feel despair

Trevor how can you sit in judgement of this man? What are your credentials? Shame on you. This man may have been looking for attention but that is just a symptom of his mental illness. He needs help, not condemnation and dismissal.

Do you know him gary??, according to him himself last night the only drugs he takes are the ones for his illness… i dont know him but he sounded pretty genuine last night.. And who am i to judge him without knowing him.

Mark, I am in complete agreement – people need to wake up and get a better understanding of mental illness and how it presents. We sweep things like this under the carpet all the time and are too embarrassed to talk about it. I think that is so wrong.

What if the guy had a radio with him, and he knew he had been taken off air? What would that have done to his frame of mind? Regardless of his mental state, in his own mind he wanted to be on air. I agree it would have been “possible” for it to be taken off, but it was a tough call for FM104 to make in an instant so the shouldn’t be ashamed.

How would you feel if you were the suicidal person and wanted to highlight this to the country, and you were cut off by the DJ?

This man has been turned away from too many people!

Do you honestly think that if he was serious about taking his own life that he would a) ring a phoneshow and b) bring a portable radio to ensure he wasn’t cut off?

What if he then takes his own life with thousands of impressionable teenagers listening? FM104 couldn’t be held responsible for the gentleman taking his life, they can be responsible for broadcasting a live suicide attempt around the city.

@ciaran- so you’re saying he wasn’t actually intending on taking his life, but the station should be ashamed for airing someone that was going to take their life?

Regardless of his intentions, this man is crying out for help and highlighting the ongoing ignorance of suicide in this country. From someone that has been closely affected by suicide more than once, I wish my brother had been brave enough to try get help and highlight it to the whole country if he was being pushed away from the people who should be helping him!!!

I understand your point about a cry for help and I’m wrong for saying that he had no intentions of doing it.

I’ve been affected by suicide myself and understand the ignorance this country has towards it but I don’t believe that broadcasting a desperate man standing on a bridge is the right thing to do. By all means the DJ was brilliant in keeping the dialogue with him and should be commended for that.

@cuaran- well maybe if you heard his previous call to them about 6 months ago, you would know the background story and understand why he called them and why it would have been inappropriate to cut him off.

@ Reds.. hit the nail on the head there .. If the man wanted it broadcast then the station did the correct thing.. I hope half the ministers were listening and realise what a shit the country is in and how the mental health system for people in this country is gone to hell..

Why is everyone saying the call should have been taken off the air. There is nothing to be ashamed about here, and we are all discussing it this morning which is a good thing. I say fair play to the station for airing the call and to the dj for talking to and helping jay when he felt he could not talk to anyone else.

The presenter wasn’t to know that it was his fourth time.

What’s your complaint going to be? “A man threatening to kill himself phoned in to speak to FM104 and they actually tried to help him, so I want them shut down!”

You’d be complaining if the poor man had spoken to them, got cut off, then killed himself, so get back in your cave, troll!

Suicide

Obviously Jay did. How do you know how a suicidal or mentally ill person’s mind works?

Roll on Comreg.

Shame on you david. They may have saved a person’s life today. He called the radio station not the other way round. Attitudes like yours make me sick.

they did call the guards, we’re you not listening.

Jeremy Dixon IS the producer. He was standing in for Aidrian Kennedy.

should a man in his position be blindsided?

Yes, kids should be made aware of mental health issues. It’s a very serious problem in Ireland and there should be more education on the issue. If it saves just 1 life it’s worth it.

I’d expect the kids were in bed at that time

It’s always a show of adult nature and on quite late at night so I would be surprised if any children are allowed listen to it. The presenter did what he thought was right , and no one can understand how you would react in that situation. What’s done is done.

Road was blocked off is his life (jays) less valuable

The key point is that Jay made a decision to end his life, I didn’t.

They didn’t phone him! He phoned them and if a radio station was his first point of call, it says a lot about the treatment he has received from the health system in this country.

Raise suicide awareness! Stop sweeping it under the carpet

Its easy for you to sit there behind your computer screen and type a comment like that, but when you are in Jeremy’s position having a gentleman calling in standing on the side of the bridge wanting his voice to be aired, you are going to do just that.

Put yourself in Jeremys shoes… say you end the call or take it off air and the man finds out and jumps… you would never be able to live that down an you’d do your best to help to try and prevent that from happening

Theres not many topics that are deemed too scandalous to be discussed on the Phone Show. You’re right that people need to discuss suicide and mental health issues openly but there are other ways. That man was in a very vulnerable place.

Shame on you

It’s the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland that you log it with.
http://www.bai.ie

Don’t start with that nurse! That WAS not the Aussie radio stations fault

They directed me to log the complaint with the broadcaster directly first and if I was not happy with their reply I could then contact the BAI

I agree that it was not the radio station’s fault but it is a bit too fresh in our memories and if this gentleman had jumped I’m sure fm104 wold be getting the blame for it. They need to be careful with hat they are broadcasting

It was hard on the presenter! You try been put on the spot like that

This man was suicidal and wanted his voice to be heard, after going unnoticed by the ignorant people and atrocious health service.

Why do you think he doesn’t deserve to be heard?

Hold on now reds. Ignorant people and atrocious health service? Bit if a generalised comment there. I’m a psych nurse and I go over and beyond every single day that I work! I’m sure that if the many presented to any service tonight he would not be turned away. So in all honesty there was no reason to ring a radio station while standing on a bridge. As mentioned earlier that can be triggering. Suicide can often occur in clusters so broadcasting it might not have been a great idea. But I understand the DJ doing what he thought best. But the health service does its best at front line level and I find it extremely insulting and disrespectful what you said.

Typical public sector response. Nobody is attacking you or your colleagues directly. When a country the size of Ireland has 600-800 suicides a year there clearly is a problem with mental health services.

While individual nurses and doctors are often fantastic, the resources aren’t there to provide help for everybody that needs it. I have family and friends who work in this sector and they always tell me that they are overworked and their resources are stretched too thin.

So, yes, the mental health services in Ireland are awful!

@lisa- I’m not talking about individual nurses or people.

Stevie Wonder could see the state of the health system here, so continue doing your job to the best of your ability, but you alone can’t change the fact that there is not enough help for mental illness in this country.

Stupid comment

unbelievable

Some people need help to die, this lad needs help to live. Both deserve that help

Great comment waffler. Some of the self righteous commenters on here condemning this poor man and the radio station make me sick. This man is clearly mentally ill and needs help. I hope neither you nor your loved ones ever need psychiatric help in this country.