On April 6, 2015, Pat Costello got the most devastating news any parent could imagine. His 26-year-old son, Marcus, had died by suicide.

How do you deal with this news? Emotionally, spiritually, even practically? Apart from the personal tragedy and heartbreak that arises from such an event, any death, whether suicide or otherwise, presents families with the reality of dealing with what their loved ones have left behind, everything from looking at their will and funeral arrangements, to dealing with social media profiles, banks and utilities.

It was no different in the case of Pat Costello.

Amongst the many things he had to take care of following the death of his son, he contacted his mobile phone provider, Meteor, telling them that the account would no longer be active and explaining exactly why. He went as far as to send them an interim death certificate, to confirm the news.

“I rang them and informed them of his death and the circumstances. It was 18 months ago, just in the height of when Marcus had died. They were very understanding.”

You can imagine how difficult it is to contact all those different companies where his now-deceased son has accounts. But whatever about closing his son's mobile phone account, neither he nor his wife could bring themselves to delete his number from their own phones.

Then, last week, quite by accident, Pat's wife dialled Marcus's old number, having meant to call her sister, Maureen. To her shock, she was greeted not by an automated message, telling her the number was no longer active, but by the voice of a woman.

How did this happen? How was this number still active? Was the account ever closed in the first place?

Contacting Meteor, Pat was told that the number had been “regenerated”, in keeping with the company’s policy. After a certain period of time, telephone numbers of deceased individuals are reactivated and assigned to new customers.

“I rang Meteor on Monday morning. I informed them what had happened and explained the situation. I gave them the number and details of Marcus’s death."

The girl was very nice, very helpful, according to Pat, telling him that Marcus's number had been “regenerated”, explaining that was the “thing that they do.”

“There are almost two million numbers… There are people all over Europe doing Euro-Millions combinations every week and they can't put seven numbers together. I just can’t understand why they couldn’t have deleted his number.”

Imagine the case of the missing person, asked Pat. Imagine a loved one, ringing the person to hear their voice once again on voicemail, and suddenly, the phone actually rings and somebody answers.

It is an extremely difficult situation, for sure, and one Liveline will be keeping a close eye on.

To listen to the full interview with Pat, and other callers with similar stories, click here.

If you have been affected by the issues in this article, or if you would like to speak to somebody directly, please call one of the following numbers.

Samaritans Ireland helpline 116123
The Aware Support Line 1800 80 48 48.
Pieta House 1800-247247.