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WESTMEATH TD KEVIN ‘Boxer’ Moran has spoken out about his struggles with illiteracy and depression, which led to a suicide attempt when he was a young man.
The Independent Alliance TD is shortly to take up a ministerial post at the OPW, and said that it was important in advance of that to let people know about his problems with dyslexia.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Late Late Show, Moran described how he left secondary school “after a number of days”.
“I felt like I couldn’t do what other people could do,” he said. He said that he was speaking publicly about his struggles due to “rumblings” regarding his education in Dáil Éireann.
“I suppose that since I’ve got to the Dáil I’ve heard rumblings on and off in relation to my education. People have been condemning the government, and I heard one particular person saying (on the radio) ‘if you want to sum up this Dáil, we’ve an incoming minister that hasn’t even got his Junior Cert’.”
That affects me because there are hundreds of people out there saying ‘you can’t get a job, you can’t represent your country’. I was very annoyed because I know so many people that suffer just like me and some are afraid to come out. I was very vexed.
I was embarrassed, and humiliated and hurt. I just felt that with people working in the Dáil, like I know most journalists working up there, if someone had come to me and asked about my problems I would have told them. I don’t know if there was gossiping, but there was chat.
Moran spoke of how entering local politics in Athlone (of which he subsequently became Mayor) without being able to read and write was “a very big thing for me”.
Dark time
He went on to describe a dark time in his life, before he entered politics, when he came close to taking his own life in the wake of his brother’s death, something “my wife says I never really got over”.
“I was about 22 or 23, and I’d gone into business with my partners because of my problems with reading and writing. I had a lot of problems at the time. And I developed panic attacks,” he said.
It was on a Sunday afternoon at a clay pigeon shoot, every second Sunday we’d be training for a shoot, this particular Sunday we’d been shooting, and I left the lads off at the pub and headed for home. But on this particular day I didn’t go left for home, I went right instead. The depression was so severe inside me, I had a loaded gun and all sorts of thoughts are going through your head. Then I had a blackout.
Kevin 'Boxer' Moran / TwitterThanks for all the kind comments. I am deeply humbled. Hope all who were touched find the courage and strength when faced with adversity.
— Kevin 'Boxer' Moran (@kevinboxermoran) May 19, 2017
“I hear from so many people affected through suicide, and so many people and families have gone through it, well it was facing me on that particular day,” he said, adding that “I did pull the trigger, and maybe it was my brother above watching over me, but I was in the van, and I pushed the gun away”.
I pointed it (the gun) at my face but I pushed it away, and the bullet shattered the window in the van. I was in bits for a long, long time. I got home, and I was crying, and then my wife Michelle came and found me and she was crying, and she asked me what was wrong, and she rang the doctor.
Moran said that for anyone suffering the same way, the important thing is to seek help.
“My family and friends and partner were absolutely tremendous to me,” he said.
We look at suicide, and in this country we have this habit when it happens of not talking. But there’s help out there, there’s help for everything nowadays.
If you need to talk, contact:
Samaritans 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
Aware 1800 80 48 48 (depression, anxiety)
Pieta House 1800 247247 or email mary@pieta.ie – (suicide, self-harm)
Teen-Line Ireland 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)
god almighty, more of it….
Work a bit harder, make more money and you won’t have to worry about household bills. It’s only the nations laziness that has them complaining about stuff like this!
@Tom I work hard for a set wage aka a salary, my workload has increased my wage lowered due to taxes and levies, every single price increase on needful items and services hits an already empty pocket. I’m far from lazy but these increases will mean that we will have decide on putting fuel into the car to travel to work or fuel for heating our house to reduce risk of sickness.
@something…and more I suspect, to come. Coping classes are going to become the collapsed classes. No end to this gouging of ordinary people at every opportunity.
Tom works for airtricty I’d say!
toms a troll
Catherine…u now have 208 signatures after a few months in the go…there is something wrong here…maybe instead of just giving out on the page, offer solutions!!!
Don’t feed Tom, he is just talking utter nonsense. Moron.
We need to stop this! If i organise a protest over corrupt annual price fixing, will you attend?
Yes 100% I’ll be there. It’s time we the people took a stand…. We’ve been pushed around for too long now, time to push back I say.
Keep us posted
Creamy behind you 100% this lot won’t be happy until their are all out riots on the streets
Yes 100% behind you. Time for us to step up!
100% creamy…just give me a time and place. This is getting out of control…we’re cash fodder to every corporate assh**e in this country lead by the government. Enough is enough..
That depends! Are your Hamstrings really Creamy? I’d be a little nervous to be honest ;-)
@johnny, that gave me a good chuckle :-) thanks
Oh there’s a surprise…..yes quick enough to raise the prices….. Now If only they were that fast with their customer service and giving you a copy of your invoice.
If you think that’s bad expect 1000% price increases over the next few years with ECB and Federal reserve printing. Transfer of wealth from the sheeple to Goldman etc backed by our superstate masters including Barroso.
Yip. Rothschilds are making a killing.
Wait for the invasion of Iran, then you will see one hell of a price rise
Sorry, you said sheeple so unfortunately your opinion is invalid.
http://www.change.org/petitions/supporting-the-irish-nation-step-down-from-government
*this country needs to be rid of these fools in Government who are making the citizens of Ireland pay for the banks, bondholders and the elected government,s €80 Billion Debt.
-This is not fair and it is not right, people were bullied and lied to vote in the way that was “wanted”.
I’m sick to death of hearing about the sick, the elderly and the people who have already been broken down get stamped on even more. whilst these “leaders” have the audacity to tell us that they can’t take a paycut because it would be too much. They earn over €150,000 a year, yet most of the Irish citizens live averagely on €35,000 a year.
- The Government have their own “expenses” account which they like to use a LOT!. Enda Kenny €25,000: in one night: in one pub.
- that kind of money would sort some people for life.
And that’s not even the tip of the Iceberg!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/supporting-the-irish-nation-step-down-from-government @@EndTheEU
#Forward2012
Cut down on electric & gas usages , its the only way to beat these increases.
Sure they’ll just increase it more to keep the profits up.
@felix haha yeah they have everyone by the balls & they know it.
You can cut down on your usage but I’m sure they will find a way to charge you for under usage or something. We just can’t win!!!!
yeah there is a way to win, dont vote for right wing parties.
seems like they all do this every October the last few years, and they they only match each other upwardly to the nearest cent, We are all framed to the nearest cent too
price fixing is out of controll, We may as well not have a government, they do not serve people.
@slapandstick are you only figuring that out now?
Definite cartel. Absolute joke at this stage.
Ah the energy sector. What’s that old saying? If it look s like a cartel and acts like a cartel …….
When airtricity came to the market along with esb taking on gas and bord gais taking on electricity….I thought great, finally some competition in Ireland…but it’s the same old thing…it just depresses me.
How about we all leave our wages with the government and just get ration books and food vouchers. That would sort everything
There is a huge global demand for wind and it is driving up the price.
Wind energy is a waste of time. Take away the subsidies and it is economically absurd.
I didn’t realise wind turbines produced gas. The electricity in Ireland is also mainly produced by gas. Gas price goes up = electricity price in Ireland goes up. Having wind power would actually reduce the reliance on world gas prices. [http://www.eirgrid.com/media/Generation%20Adequacy%20Report%202010-2016.pdf]
They do in Berlin! They use turbines to make hydrogen when electrical demand is low which in turn is burned in a chp to provide electricity and heat for district heating. O those crazy Germans!
Blame the greens when they were in goverenment,all they ever did was put carbon taxes on fuel ,there gone but the taxes still here useless shower.I do cut back but with small kids you have to have warm house.
Check out this cost of living comparison between the Republic of Ireland and Finland.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Finland&country2=Ireland
The cost of monthly utilities are WAY cheaper in Finland than in the Republic of Ireland.
Clearly foul play is going on in these latest price increases by utility providers.
I for one believe fervently Tesla cracked zero point energy but the US Government and corporations have kept his patents hidden. Wardenclyffe Tower. Free Energy. Could not figure out how to meter it.
wukin fankers!
Yes! a protest!Bring it on, Creamy! When and where? Dail Eireann or Bord Gais?
NOOOOO…How will I afford to stay warm this winter …….:(((
Hot water bottle…
Bonkers.ie, let your feet do the talking!
A good solid fuel heating system will heat your house for a fraction of oil gas is or electricity.
Not so sure on that mate .
I Heat a 4 bed semi from an inset stove with a heatbox installed above it, pushing heated air directly to all upstairs rooms.
In mid winter is uses 3 euro of turf a day for about 12 hours of heating
fair play to you Mike– what is the output of the system? sounds really good. I have solid fuel range and a condenser boiler (99% efficient) .Trying to heat 14 rads, the solid fuel systems wouldn’t have a look in with the oil boiler.
Hi Paurice.
with most heating systems you convert heat to water, then pump the water to the rads, then convert the heat from the water to the rads and from the rads to the room. I believe you lose about 10% per conversation and there is 3 concessions in a standard heating system. with a heat box the hot air is transferred directly from the stove to the rooms via insulated pipes.
Sounds interesting. Can’t afford to change my central hearing system but sounds like its worth looking at.. Be nice not to have to worry about ever increasing oil prices.
What happened – did the price of wind go up?
this is not a cartel,,a bunch of us ceos need a holiday is all…bonus time soon.
Enda’s low cost economy takes another step forward. Next he will be telling us that house hold tax, water rates, charges for septic tanks, lower hospital cover, reduced children’s allowance, reduced fuel allowances for the elderly are good for us. Anyone ever going to stand up and say stop?
As I said last week on the Bord Gas article, don’t be forgetting about the inevitable VAT increase that will surely come in Budget ’13 to go on top of that. Probably about 2%.
Get making your draft excluders now people, easily done with tights and old rags ;) hot water bottles, fleeces,slipper socks, blankets etc going for a song now in penny’s!! Would rather walk around my house like the Michelin man than give those robbing b@stards more money than necessary! You have options, use them!
I was just about to ask my boss for a pay-rise.. Wish me best of luck
Jeez i dont know how much worse this country is going to get between increases here and there how can people keep on going , ive a family earn s basic wage and barely getting by month to month its the eldery people i worry about when the cold snap comes in they will be afraid to put gas om to keep them warm because they are afraid of the bill they will get . Everything seems to be going up apart from peoples wages hmmm something not right there .
just get the pre-pay meters in its free doesn’t cost half as much as any of those companies on electricity
I moved to airtricity in December last year & signed up to a 2 year contract and when the ESB increased theirs last week I rang airtricity to make sure it was a fixed price contract i signed up to, and she confirmed it is. so I won’t be affected by this increase yet, although the 2nd year of the contract the rate does go up slightly, but will still be under the new rate.
I live in Northern Ireland and have signed up to Airtricity for my electricity recently …..was with Phoenix Gas which has been taken over by Airtricity ….are these price increases applicable up here ….Balex!!!
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