Bullied teenager who killed herself revealed abusers’ names in a letter before she died...
teenager who had dreams of becoming a make-up artist always took the time to speak to the homeless.
Willie said: “I went to collect her in John’s Square and she was over talking to rough sleepers.
“She told me they all have issues and this is why she sat among them and spoke with them.
“She knew every one of them by their name. It was her nature.
“She looked after other people but not herself. People were so mean to her.”
The O’neills found tremendous reserves of strength to set up the One Life Trust, the name reflecting a tattoo Mia had.
The family has identified a building in Newport, and hopes to provide a safe space for children aged from 12 to 18.
Mia’s uncle Marc said: “It’s a living nightmare. We’ll never get over this. The only thing we can do is take positive steps for the future youth of Ireland.
“We don’t want to see another child suffer at the hands of a failing system, or the hands of a bully, or at the hands or something that could be stopped.
“It’s still very raw. But we are trying to put our energy into something good.
“It was Mia’s month’s mind on Thursday and you could see with the kids coming together, how compassionate and supportive they were to one another.
“But there’s another side to that, where you can see how ugly, negative and horrible people can be to one another.” Mia was mixed-race, and this was also a cause of her being bullied, according to her family.
She was diagnosed with an emotional regulation disorder and had self-harmed after being targeted. Mia suffered mental health issues since she was 12 and had used the services of CAMHS, the HSE and Pieta House.
But Marc said she was “failed” by a system which is “flawed”.