So Shane McEntee comitted suicide by all accounts, possibly the first serving minster to do so. Obviously a tragedy for his family.
There are rumblings on the blogsphere that public reaction to the recent budget was to blame with some going so far as to blame the IMF for his death. Is there any evidence to back this up? To me this sounds like a sad attempt to use the tragedy for political gain 
My father attended the removal tonight. Heās a friend and former colleague of one of the siblings (whom I have met before, very decent). I was skeptical of the budget etc angle too, though my mother was saying he was a sensitive man.
Fwiw I donāt think political figures were saying it or looking for advantage but the usual media clowns looking for a headline and twisting every quote.
Werther Effect a contributory factor?
Thereās been a lot of discussions about suicide in the Irish media in the last few weeks.
In a way I am disappointed at how the story was spun initially. Reilly etc were emotionally speaking about the death of a colleague probably in full knowledge that it was a suicide not a heart attack (which was my assumption).
I didnāt pay any more attention to the death until today. I think it does matter that there seems to have been an initial cover-up.
Cover up? Full knowledge?
Itās about showing decency until the facts emerge and until relevant friends and family find out themselves. What difference does it make that the cause of death emerges later on?
Given the debacle over Hugh OāRegans passing it was especialy understandable that discretion would be shown.
Heās not Hugh OāRegan. Heās was an elected representative. A world of difference. The silence has more to do with the cosy relationship that the political journos and politicians, security correspondents, gardai etc have in this country.
In societies with proper independent medias the phrase āapparent suicideā gets used early on. Because thatās what it probably clearly was at the time. Not definite suicide. Apparent.
Eh, I referred to HOR as an illustration as to why people need to be cautious, do you think NWL was right to report it? Given that it was wrong Iām sure he regrets jumping the gun.
The cause of death was reported within a day, the initial reactions from other politicians were within hours when nothing was established. Itās one thing for a blogger to report hearsay quite another for a politican, especially those with a personal relationship.
Have to say its bizarre that your nose is out of joint because James OāReilly had the temerity to make a statement without giving details (to which he would not have been party). Really, hours after a guy is found and his friends and family are coming to terms with it you expect a full run down before the post-mortem/autopsy is even complete?
You donāt know what details OāReilly was party to when he spoke. He is minister for health, and fg deputy leader. I seek no macabre details. I object to yet another sign of omerta in official ireland. Was it all about friends and family or was it also media management and too close reporting relationships.
Ah come off it. They set the initial narrative (which is crucial). They get time to get all their stories straight.
irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ā¦ ing33.html
thestar.ie/star/shane-mcente ā¦ olitician/
Ridiculous government press release and given what the star says on the cause of death.
It was just wrong. A government and media should not behave like that.
Very sad. RIP.
Was he under particular pressure as a Minister of State? I always assumed it was a joke of role just created to divert the gravy. Eitherway, sad news.
Politically motivated bullshit.
This argument is beyond silly. There is no conspiratorial cover-up. A Governement press statement is never going to get into the cause of a sudden death like this. The inquest will take care of that. (The papers are free to speculate, enquire and report on the matter as they have done - but itās not the job of the Government Press office.)
Iāve no doubt that politicians of all hues will, in time, discuss the actual manner of the death in the press and on the airwaves.
Canāt be easy burying a close family member (at any time) but particularly on Christmas Eve.
the tone of some of the comments on here is shocking
none of us know what goes on in peoples minds
By all accounts he took all his constituents gripes and issues as his own personal responsibility
from what i hear he had been suffering depression in the last month or so and took the letters sent to him after the budget personally
had is breakfast with the wife took the dog for a walk and never seen alive again
as for cover ups, get a grip on reality
I donāt think the Hugh O Regan issue has been publicly established one way or another. Iām not saying that it should be, just that NWL reported something that, sadly, could well be correct from what I hear. Itās clear that the family say otherwise, but sadly sometimes families feel thereās a stigma attached to suicide and donāt want it reported that way. Weāll probably never know for sure, and really itās none of our business in the case of HOR.
His name was not familiar to me and I donāt recall McEntee being singled out for abuse on any site.
If you has said minister of state Shane McEntee I would not have know whom you were referring to.
In fact, like most ministers of state, I donāt remember him at all.
Iām not seen any abuse directed directly at him, plenty at the government and ministers but not at him.
So I am not fully convinced that online abuse was the primary factor here, but it might have been the straw that broke the camels back.
While obviously a tragedy, lots of abuse is part of the job for a minister. If he was not well, he should not have been appointed to that stressful a role.
How self obsessed and self righteous do people get on these forums ā¦The guy is dead let him rest in peace.
Internet forums allow people to give a lot of personalised and overt the top abuse that i guarantee they would not raise in person and in front of their family , friends and work collegaues.
There are serious problems in Ireland but we should remember that in world terms we are in the top 10% in the world primarily by accident of birth ā¦we could be in burkina faso ā¦so keep raising the issues but go easy on the personal abuse even if people have f***** up ā¦we all do.
+1. Yeah, people need to cop the f*ck on and stop attacking the guy. This thread is a complete and utter disgrace. I canāt believe some of the stuff thatās been posted here.
Right? 
What abuse? I dont see much āabuseā here. A member of government apparently commits suicide and at first the reporting of the cause of death is extremely furtive and evasive and then according to the papers it was due to being ābullied by the internetā and they want to make it illegal to say anything negative about politicians. WTF? No wonder the country is up shit creek.
He took an oath of office of public trust. His failure in this trust is very much a matter of public interest and debate. A guy was appointed to high office in the state who it now obviously seems had not the personalty to survive the rough and tumble of daily politics. The experience crushed him. As it now seems it was obvious that the experience was crushing him to those around him in public life. These situations never appears out of the blue. Its not the first time a minister buckled under the pressure. Why do you think so many of them become alcoholics. So if blame is to be handed out it needs be put on the real culprits, those who appointed him to the office, those who watched him flounder, those who ignored the warning signs. But ultimate its looks like McEntees fault. Because based on the public domain story so far it looks like he accepted a job he was not qualified for, and did not resign to the back benches once it became obvious that he could not handle the stress of being a junior minister in a front line ministry. Ultimately his ego killed him. Not an uncommon story with suicides.
Sure, at a personal level its a tragedy. Suicide is such a selfish act that it always devastates all around them. But if any guilt is to be apportioned it should be directed to the true guilty. Those who created the situation and those who let it drag out to its terrible conclusion. If any bullying was done in this situation it was done within the cabinet and the whips office.
And blame should be laid at the feet of a system that elevates such unqualified people to a position like this in public life. Iām not sure of the exact parish pump politics of this appointment but it looks like a geographic spoils appointment. He was probably appointed not because of his ability but because of the need to appoint someone from that part of the country as part of the ministerial spoils system. The usual case with most junior ministerial appointments. You dont think most of these people actually get the job because they are qualified for it? If they did there would not be so many school teachers in Irish ministries.
Well, yes. That was the very point I was making except I was attempting to do it with a bit of sarcasm. How anyone could find anything in this thread offensive is beyond me but I suspect there is more at play than it appears. Beware of FG.