John's story: For many he will be remembered as the youth who made legal history in 1995. Known in the legal world as the "FN case", it established a constitutional obligation on the part of the State to provide adequate care for troubled children.
He paved the way for all the other childcare cases that found their way to the High Court.
For his foster mother, however, he was someone she had cared for since he was five months old. To her he was a son who took his own life less than two years after he emerged from the childcare system.
His foster mother is angry; angry at the fact that John never received adequate therapeutic treatment for his underlying psychological problems. She is angry that as soon as he turned 18, any attempts to provide proper treatment for him stopped. She is also angry that nine years after she took the case on behalf of her son, the same thing is happening to other children.
She recalls holding the hand of her foster son through the night in those first few months after he arrived to her - it was the only way he would stop crying long enough to sleep.
He had been born in Dublin to a heroin addict, who continued to use drugs during the pregnancy. He was also terribly neglected in his first few months of life. Throughout early childhood his behaviour did not improve, and he became aggressive and violent towards other children.
Despite his foster mother's best efforts, John's behaviour continued to deteriorate, and he became a problem nobody wanted to deal with. In one year alone he was excluded from four schools. By the time he had reached early teens, he had been in a succession of care homes and placements. It was the same story in each - they didn't have adequate facilities for John, who kept running away.
At this stage she took the unprecedented step of seeking a judicial review in an attempt to get him proper treatment. In 1995 the High Court, in a landmark ruling, found that the State had a constitutional obligation to provide proper care places for troubled children. The Eastern Health Board, which was responsible for John's care, was ordered to open a secure high-support unit.
They did so in 1996. It was called Newtown House, a former care home in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, and was the first of its kind in the country. FN was one of the first residents.
John's foster mother questions the quality of care he received there. She believes he never received the proper therapeutic treatment he needed. He spent two years in Newtown House, and was returned to his mother just before his 18th birthday.
Although he took part in one training scheme, John never settled back into normal, everyday life, and was never able to hold down a full-time job. In March 2001, he hanged himself on a Dublin building site.
"He couldn't cope with life," his foster mother says. "But I'm very angry, when I think about the things we had to do to try and get something done. We literally had to make him homeless to get the health board to act.
"When he got the care, he was looked after by carers who weren't qualified. They waited until his case became a crisis and by then it was too late.
"It was just containment. In the end they were just biding their time until he was 18."