Sinead O’Connor reportedly in hospital days after death of her son
Shane O'Connor's body was found last week
Sinead O’Connor has been reportedly admitted to hospital days after her son, Shane, died by suicide last week (January 7).
The Irish singer wrote on Twitter that she was “with cops now on way to hospital” after posting comments yesterday (January 13) indicating that she wished to take her own life. Rolling Stone UK has contacted her representatives for confirmation of her hospitalisation.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” O’Connor wrote in reference to earlier tweets in which she said she’d “decided to follow my son” because she doesn’t “deserve to live”.
She continued: “I am with cops now on way to hospital. I’m sorry I upset everyone. I am lost without my kid and I hate myself. Hospital will help a while. But I’m going to find Shane. This is just a delay,” O’Connor wrote after the distressing messages.
Shane, 17, whose full name was Nevi’im Nesta Ali Shane O’Connor, went missing last week with the Gardaí launching an appeal for his whereabouts. He disappeared from Newbridge, County Kildare, and was last seen on Friday (January 7) morning in the Tallaght, Dublin area.
His body was found later that day in the Bray area of Wicklow, police confirmed on Saturday (January 8).
O’Connor has alleged that her son, whom she claimed had previously attempted to commit suicide twice, was discharged from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services a month before his death despite making “detailed funeral plans”.
She has since go on to demand answers as to why Shane was allowed to leave Tallaght hospital in Dublin from where he had been reported missing two days before his death. O’Connor claims that Shane was “on suicide watch”, and attacked the child and family agency Tusla, referring to “the so called care of the Irish State in the form of Tusla…may God forgive the Irish state for I never will”.
The Irish Times has reported that Shane’s death will be investigated by Ireland’s National Review Panel (NRP), which was set up to look into incidents where serious failings may have occurred, including the deaths of children who were in care or known to child protection services.
Approached for comment by the Times, the hospital said: “The HSE (Health Service Executive) cannot comment on individual cases when to do so might reveal information in relation to identifiable individuals, breaching the ethical requirement on us to observe our duty of confidentiality.
In a series of tweets, O’Connor took aim at the HSE – Ireland’s publicly funded healthcare provider – as well as the Irish state in general. She called the former “evil” and “self-serving”. A spokeswoman for the Garda earlier confirmed that the body of a young man had been found in the Bray/Shankill area of Dublin on Friday (January 7), and that Gardaí were “assisting the coroner in preparing a file for an inquest”.
O’Connor has three other children, aged between 15 and 33. Last June, she announced her immediate retirement from music, before retracting it three days later. Her eleventh album, ‘No Veteran Dies Alone’, is expected to be released this year.
If you’ve been affected by the issues raised in this article, you can speak to somebody in confidence and free of charge by calling the Samaritans on 116 123 (UK and Ireland), emailing jo@samaritans.org, or visiting www.samaritans.org.