Waterford City's Darkness Into Light walk organised by Pieta will not go ahead this year

Sarah Slater

Waterford City's Darkness Into Light walk organised by suicide awareness charity Pieta will not go ahead this year.

The decision was made at a recent meeting of the local organising committee over an issue where the charity offices of Pieta will be located in the city.

Des Purcell, committee chairman, outlined the reasons behind the decision not to hold the nationwide walk in Waterford on Déise Today with Damien Tiernan on WLRFM.

Purcell said the recent decision by Pieta to move the Waterford service based on the Waterside to a new location was "upsetting" for the committee.

"They can't justify taking money from the people of Waterford when the house is closing, that's the bottom line," he said.

"They do not want to go and request money from the people of Waterford while, simultaneously, the house is closing."

He explained that a letter was issued to Pieta headquarters informing them of the decision.

Waterford's Pieta service is due to move to a new location later this year.

The decision was confirmed by Pieta as part of what is being described as "a strengthened regional and local service model aligned with national health strategies and the development of HSE Regional and Integrated Healthcare Areas.”

As part of this transition, three of Pieta's centres will move to a co-located outreach model, including the service in Waterford and they added that they are “fully committed” to the city and the surrounding communities.

The Waterford walk was due to take place next month.

"It's a black or white issue," added Purcell. "Either we have a walk and we have a house or we don't have a house so we don't have a walk."

He outlined issues with the proposed co-location model put forward by Pieta which would see the charity establish a presence within every Integrated Healthcare Area across the country.

Purcell described having a physical house in Waterford as “sacrosanct".