Missing 8yr Old Kyran Durnin - presumed dead *READ Mod Note Added to OP*

Ireland has always had a terrible track record of child care, and despite what nostalgia says people were greedy back in the day. So unfortunately this case is another stain on Ireland's record of looking after children.

I don't envy anyone the job of having to decide when the state intervenes in a family, jump in too prematurely and you run the risk of being accused of over reaching. Not bothering to see why a child isn't at a meeting, you can end up with something like this case.

Stories like this really make you want to grab your own kids and give them a real big squeezey hug.

Have you or someone very close to you ever had a mental illness?

This is a really weird story. The Irish Times is reporting that the mother has been located safe & well in the UK, but the tabs are carrying statements from her mother begging her to make contact. In fact, the Irish Times piece said earlier that the mother had been found five days after they were first reported missing, which would have been September 4th, but has since been updated to just say she was found in the UK. Meanwhile, the Mirror is saying "Kyran Durnin and his mother Dayla went missing overnight on August 28 from the family's home in County Louth, Ireland, after the 24-year-old left a note saying she 'needed to get away for a few days'. Police launched search efforts two days later, and despite 'extensive enquiries' have not found any clues to their whereabouts well over a month later."

Times also saying that "Some individuals known to the child have been co-operating with the investigation while others have been less forthcoming". Sounds like the family know exactly what happened and have been covering it up for some time. Poor little mite, sounds like he had a very rough life.

I'd say most people in Ireland have someone in their extended family /friend circle who suffer or have suffered from mental health issues but I won't discuss my own or other people's private health issues on a public forum. I accept that it's a fair question in trying to assess if I have a particular bias. I was actually so shocked by what I read a few years ago that I've tried very hard to find convincing evidence to the contrary since, with no success. I am doing my best to be objective - I posted a link that I think presents a compelling case.

I had drafted a detailed reply to you but deleted it as I don't want to go OT (though we are already discussing mental health) and I'm conscious of the awfulness of the case. My main interest is in the truth - you'll see that in my posts on other threads where I argue against commonly accepted truths that don't stand up to scientific or logical scrutiny.

Lest there be any doubt: I believe mental suffering is real, and I have huge sympathy for sufferers, their friends and families.

Agree.

My point is that people are so busy and so stretched that **** happens. Technology lets us do things faster and let's more people do more work, but some kinds of work just can't be done "fast" or automated.

Such as face to face child care/mental health care/social work. There is the appearance of work being done, but it's only at a very superficial level.

I'm not going to excuse what has happened here as well don't know the details.

It's just shocking and so sad.

oh dont worry, theres gonna be little or no change in irish governments for a very very long time!

…but some do! plenty of mass murders linked to my own disorder!

Not to harp on the mental health thing, but since schizophrenia has been mentioned, studies have shown that sufferers are more likely to be victims of violence than to inflict it.

You would think the school would have been reporting their concern for him to the relevant authorities, he seems to have just dropped off the face of the earth.

I'd have thought there would be so the level of education previously achieved could be shared, certainly for moves to another ROI school.