A truly delightful person and - I know this is cliched - but someone whose very prescence seemed to brighten up everyone she met. I knew her extremely well, having been at university with her, and we shared many a singing and music session, both at uni. and in subsequent years

The first I knew of her death was when I read about it in Froots. That shook me considerably, but not half as much as when I rang a mutual friend to find out if it the Froots report was true. It turned out that Eithne, unbeknown to practically everyone, suffered from acute depression, and that in the end it drove her to commit suicide.

I suffer from occasional bouts of depression, so I have some small idea of what she must have gone through. But for the life of me, I still can't reconcile her condition with the bright, cheerful ougoing person who I knew as Eithne.

Unfortunately, depression is still one of those things we still don't talk about and we should. We need to get the fact that it is a medical condition - no less treatable than any other disease - right out in the open.

If you see anyone rattling a collection tin for MIND, or any other mental health charity, please make sure you shove a few bob in.