We have to stop this waste of life: Colin was an ordinary fella, always cheerful and helping people. Then one night he watched football and X Facto - then took his own life. Here his father, councillor Peter Roche, bravely speaks of his beloved son, the dark influenc of Facebook... and the traged of Ireland's suicide epidemic [Eire Region]

SUICIDE is every family's worst nightmare and, traditionally, it is rarely discussed.

The latest figures published by the Central Statistics Office show that 231 people killed themselves in the first half of 2010.

Colin Roche, 23, took his life in a shed close to his family home last November. Tragically, his heartbroken 20-year-old girlfriend Lisa Healy also decided to end her life just two weeks ago.

As two families deal with the shock and pain of a double suicide, Colin's father has decided to speak publicly about the issue.

In a heartbreaking and frank interview, he explains that the public attitude towards suicide must change if help is to be provided for the vulnerable.

IT was the phone call that changed things for ever. As Colin Roche spoke to his eldest brother Alan in the early hours of a bitterly cold November morning, he was precise and to the point in his conversation.

He wanted his parents to know that he loved them, that what he was about to do was nobody's fault and he was sorry.

Seconds later, in a rarely used shed close to the family home, he took his own life.

In that cruel instant, a lifetime of pain and anguish was brought to the door of the Roche family home. Today, inside the walls of what is a warm, loving and stable environment, the memories of that awful night are still raw.

'When we got the phone call from Alan it was 4am,' says Colin's father Peter.

'That call is the most horrendous thing any parent could ever get. You just go ape. You kind of think, "Is this really happening?" You instantly just rush out; you think that maybe it might be a cry for help, or some kind of mistake. You just don't believe it.'

Eleven weeks after that fateful night, the father-of four still agonises over the fact that he did not go out to the shed a few seconds earlier.

'Both Adrian (Colin's brother) and myself went to the shed... and Colin was... he was literally seconds dead... That's the awful thing. Then everything goes into absolute chaos. It's like a dream that all this is happening at this hour of the morning. It was 4am...