Family says woman ‘demonised and criminalised’ by Council

Paddy Cummins remembers like it was yesterday the afternoon he got a phone call to say his sister, Bríd, had taken her own life.

It was December 6, 2004, and Paddy was at work at the C&C Group in Clonmel town where he was operations manager. Angela, his older sister, broke the news.

“I was stunned. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. I thought it was a joke. I rang Bríd every week. I visited her every couple of weeks. We were best buddies because we were nearest in age. I was stunned,” says Paddy, in his first ever interview about the death which sparked controversy.

With suicide there are always more questions than answers. But this was different – and the Cummins family believes her death was preventable.

Bríd, a former journalist, who had mental health issues, fought eviction by Galway City Council from the council house she was living in. The Council had secured an eviction order against her in November 2004. She appealed the decision but was willing to leave voluntarily if she could stay for Christmas. The Council refused and according to the court order she was to vacate the property on December 6, 2004.

Housing agency COPE said it was instructed by the Council not to provide crisis accommodation for the 48-year-old. On that date she was found dead in her flat in Munster Avenue when officials turned up to get back the house keys from her. The tragedy is known as the Bríd Cummins Affair and is regarded as a stain on the city.

“For someone to die in the circumstances that she did was a huge trauma and everybody knows that that type of death (suicide) is a huge tragedy on its own but to have so many avenues and negatives connected with it makes it 100 times worse,” he said.

The Cummins’ family have always felt that the local authority did not act in a professional manner in the way they dealt with Bríd. That assertion has been strengthened by details in the book ‘Abuse of Power: Because Councils Can’ by author and Council whistleblower, Julie Grace. The book published last year, which charts the story of Bríd and how she was treated by the Council, revealed new evidence of the affair that the family wasn’t aware of.

The family believes the Council fabricated an anti-social behaviour case against their sister and criminalised her. “Bríd didn’t get a fair hearing,” says Paddy. “My whole beef with the Council is they demonised her and they criminalised her. We feel she got a raw deal. They took away her name; they took away her character.”

He called on the executive of Galway City Council to ‘do the decent thing’. “What we’re looking for is an apology and the restoration of her name. The apology is for the lack of professionalism and dignity in the way she was treated. They need to recognise the fact that they could have handled it a lot more professionally with more dignity and humanity because, in effect, they criminalised a single, young woman to justify throwing her out of the house.”

The Cummins family felt they were treated “appallingly” when arriving at Galway Garda Station on the day of Bríd’s death, and by Council officials when they visited Munster Avenue. But, by and large, they are overwhelmed by, and grateful for, the support from the people of Galway, including friends of Bríd.

Paddy appeals to Galway City Councillors to play their part in bringing closure. “Leave the politics to one side. This is a humanitarian case. We are an ordinary family that never hurt anyone in our lives. All we are expecting from the elected representatives and the executive is to step back from the stubbornness and take a humanitarian look at this.”

And as for the cynics who might snipe from the sidelines and claim that the family’s motives aren’t pure, Paddy insists: “We’re absolutely not on a witch-hunt. That’s not who we are. We have made that clear. My family and I have no interest in revenge . . . If I was out to get money from the Council all I have to do is go to a solicitor and take an action. But that’s not what it’s about. That won’t bring back my sister. All we are interested in is my sister is not a criminal, was never a criminal – she didn’t have a criminal bone in her body.”