Ballyjamesduff

[bennydorano]

If it had've happened in inner city Dublin I'd dare say there'd have been a different approach as well.

[Rudi]

The mother and kids didn't deserve to die. The State won't do anything about this issue. So more innocent people will be killed.

Out of curiosity what could the state have done?

Just as confused as you are. Sure it's the states fault. An Irish solution to an Irish problem. It's always someone's else's fault. When people realise we are collectively responsible for mental health issues, we might actually get somewhere.

[ONeill]

It doesn't do any good either to simply demonise the man as an evil monster and close the book on it. It has to be analysed.

For all we know, he could have been a loving and caring father and husband for 15 years and simply lost all reason within a short period of time, lost control of rational thinking that ended in this tragedy. We don't know who it could happen to and when. It needs to be dissected so that anyone might possibly recognise the early stages of this mental disintegration within them before it's too late.

[nrico2006]

An apparent pillar of the community who was middle class can be evil too. Not as many excuses made for random murderers in this country or the countless number of paedophiles, when surely there could be a mental health issue at play in these cases too.

[seafoid]

Women's Aid could provide safety planning for such women but said in a statement "what we need is domestic violence homicide reviews".
"We need to learn from that. There are examples of this in the UK where there's a whole practise of domestic violence homicide reviews. We don't know what happened in that house but what we do know is there was someone who took control of four people and decided whether they would live or die, and decided they would die. That sparks real fear in women."
Minister for Children, Katherine Zappone, visiting Women's Aid, said she would welcome any proposals to conduct such research.

[Ethan Tremblay]

Good piece in Belfast Telegraph worth a read.  There would be many people out there with fragile mental health issues, but to do this is something else. 
Agree with ONeil in that until this tragedy is fully analysed from all angles it would be unfair to speculate what caused this

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/stop-making-excuses-for-alan-hawe-he-killed-three-sons-and-wife-with-hatchet-and-knives-35024458.html

[seafoid]

Good piece in Belfast Telegraph worth a read.  There would be many people out there with fragile mental health issues, but to do this is something else. 
Agree with ONeil in that until this tragedy is fully analysed from all angles it would be unfair to speculate what caused this

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/stop-making-excuses-for-alan-hawe-he-killed-three-sons-and-wife-with-hatchet-and-knives-35024458.html

That is a super article. Imagine the terror of the mother when she realised what was happening.

[MoChara]

Suzanne Breen hits the nail on the head again there, for me she is stand out journalist in the North and her opinion pieces like this are always honest and insightful.

[nrico2006]

That is a great article.  I heard one of the boys had lots of defensive wounds, but I thought it was the oldest.  To think of what that 6 year old or his mother was feeling in their last minutes is unbearable. 

[omagh_gael]

I don't buy the mental health angle at all, if you are unwell enough to carry out an act as heinous as this then you would not be able to hide it to the level seen here. If you are suffering from a delusional based disorder you can't turn it off and on when required. If you are in the darkest depths of depression that lead you to murder your entire family in cold blood then you couldn't maintain the façade across all settings in your life. Someone would have spotted something or the mask would have slipped. I say this from 14 plus years of experience working within the mental health field.

Every eulogy/ 'let's not judge' about this man should be made in the context of the below...

Using a hatchet and knives does not offer your victims a swift or gentle death. Media reports of the post mortems record that Clodagh suffered defensive injuries suggesting that she fought like a tigress to save her own and her children's lives.

Six-year-old Ryan is also believed to have struggled valiantly to fight off his father. The torment in that house for the last living child - seeing what had happened to his mother and two brothers and knowing he was next - is unimaginable.

The only conceivable defence I could stomach would be somewhere along the lines of Charles Whitman (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-brain-on-trial/308520/ ) who murdered 13 people in 1966. His defence was that his brain was fundamentally compromised by a tumour on his Amygdala. Even then his actions didn't come as a bolt from the blue, there were clear warning signs. I am all for increasing societies awareness of mental health issues and as part of my job I deliver training to many people were I passionately advocate on their behalf. However, this whole thing leaves a sour taste in my mouth and Alan Hawe should be remembered for what he was, a cold blooded child/wife killer not someone who should be pitied.

[OakleafCounty]

It makes me sick to the pit of my stomach that this evil bastard was afforded a funeral and burial along with the wife and children that he BRUTALLY murdered. I know that if my father had done this I wouldn't want to have shared a funeral or especially be buried with him, mental illness or not!

It also makes me sick that he'll never face justice. I feel nothing but anger towards this 'man' and can't get my head around the whole aftermath, funeral and kind words from the priest.

[Esmarelda]

I read the article above and I've no idea why people think it's good.

Is it not the case that most of the coverage has centred on trying to find an explanation for what happened? If it has been stated that Alan Hawe was a good man in the community etc., surely it's only to highlight how utterly incomprehensible the act was, and not to make him out to be a great fella.

The journalist (ironically given how she' criticising the other coverage) has decided, with no evidence, that Alan Hawe was misogynistic, backed up by the "fact" that it was difficult to get a photo of Clodagh.

Where's the evidence that he was misogynistic?

I have no idea why he did what he did. I cannot comprehend a father hacking his kids to death and I doubt I ever will. But as far as I can see this is a journalist criticising what she perceives as the defending of a killer and at the same time painting a picture of the man based on...............well I don't know what.

[johnneycool]

I read the article above and I've no idea why people think it's good.

Is it not the case that most of the coverage has centred on trying to find an explanation for what happened? If it has been stated that Alan Hawe was a good man in the community etc., surely it's only to highlight how utterly incomprehensible the act was, and not to make him out to be a great fella.

The journalist (ironically given how she' criticising the other coverage) has decided, with no evidence, that Alan Hawe was misogynistic, backed up by the "fact" that it was difficult to get a photo of Clodagh.

Where's the evidence that he was misogynistic?

I have no idea why he did what he did. I cannot comprehend a father hacking his kids to death and I doubt I ever will. But as far as I can see this is a journalist criticising what she perceives as the defending of a killer and at the same time painting a picture of the man based on...............well I don't know what.

I think her article is good in so far as we judge someone like this Alan Hawe in a one dimensional manner and she's questioning that.

He collected at mass, the priest visited the home, done the gate at the local GAA ground and was a school VP, so he has to be a good husband, father and so forth when really we don't have a clue as he could still do this and be a violent thug.

She is also right to point out that we seem to be looking to explain away his evilness as a one off act of madness, driven by mental illness, but why him and why do we not consider him an evil f**ker who hacked his wife and three children to death and how do we not consider that he may not be a good person to his own family?

We are socially conditioned to an extent to think like this, Breen is right to point out our own failings in this regard.

[Esmarelda]

I read the article above and I've no idea why people think it's good.

Is it not the case that most of the coverage has centred on trying to find an explanation for what happened? If it has been stated that Alan Hawe was a good man in the community etc., surely it's only to highlight how utterly incomprehensible the act was, and not to make him out to be a great fella.

The journalist (ironically given how she' criticising the other coverage) has decided, with no evidence, that Alan Hawe was misogynistic, backed up by the "fact" that it was difficult to get a photo of Clodagh.

Where's the evidence that he was misogynistic?

I have no idea why he did what he did. I cannot comprehend a father hacking his kids to death and I doubt I ever will. But as far as I can see this is a journalist criticising what she perceives as the defending of a killer and at the same time painting a picture of the man based on...............well I don't know what.

I think her article is good in so far as we judge someone like this Alan Hawe in a one dimensional manner and she's questioning that.

He collected at mass, the priest visited the home, done the gate at the local GAA ground and was a school VP, so he has to be a good husband, father and so forth when really we don't have a clue as he could still do this and be a violent thug.

She is also right to point out that we seem to be looking to explain away his evilness as a one off act of madness, driven by mental illness, but why him and why do we not consider him an evil f**ker who hacked his wife and three children to death and how do we not consider that he may not be a good person to his own family?

We are socially conditioned to an extent to think like this, Breen is right to point out our own failings in this regard.

If she thinks that people are saying that he must be a good husband, then fair enough. Maybe he was a good husband up until this point. Why would she say he wasn't? Like I said above, any mention of this normality that I've read is to show that this act was completely unexpected as he appeared to be an average man. If there was any indication that this might have happened then this line wouldn't be used. I think she's confusing this with people defending him which I don't think is the case.

As you say, we don't really know why this happened but the journalist throws misogyny into the equation. So it's wrong to suggest that he may have been a normal husband but it's ok to use your platform as journalist to imply that he hated women? And where does the murdering of his children fall into this theory.

If he disliked women then why kill himself?

I think it's a highly irresponsible piece and I'd wonder what she hoped to achieve with it.

[laoislad]

Good piece in Belfast Telegraph worth a read.  There would be many people out there with fragile mental health issues, but to do this is something else. 
Agree with ONeil in that until this tragedy is fully analysed from all angles it would be unfair to speculate what caused this

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/stop-making-excuses-for-alan-hawe-he-killed-three-sons-and-wife-with-hatchet-and-knives-35024458.html

Great article.