Farming special - Day 2: Higgins ‘very upset’ at level of suicide in rural areas
The President was reacting to the findings of the first day of the Irish Examiner/ICMSA survey which found that more than half of farmers have been directly affected by suicide, either in their immediate family or community.
Some 16% of farmers had experienced it either in their immediate or wider family.
One in five farmers aged between 35 and 44 said they had an immediate connection with suicide, while some 42% of farmers between the ages of 55 and 64 said they had experienced suicide in the local community or among neighbours.
President Higgins said he was “very upset” by the findings, stressing that it was clear that suicide is a “real issue” in rural Ireland.
“Obviously, I was very upset to read about the effect of suicide on rural communities. You have to, of course, take out the map and see that it is heavier in some areas rather than in others so there is a geographical factor that you have to take into account.
“But I think, particularly for the most active group in farming community between the age of 35 and 44, to have such a high proportion of them have an experience — either direct in the family or in the extended family. But there is a great future for farming if it is got right,” he said.
Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesman Éamon Ó Cuív said it was clear from the findings that the political class in Ireland wasn’t taking the issue of suicide seriously enough.
“Suicide isn’t been taken seriously enough as a problem in terms of politics in general. One of the biggest issues I came across in my time as rural development minister was the issue of loneliness and isolation in farming,” he said.
Mr Ó Cuív said as much effort needs to be put into suicide as is put into road safety.
“I believe that we need to look at the causes of rural suicide, suicide among farmers, and we need to do something about it urgently. Many more people die from suicide in this country than from car accidents and look at the effort we put into road safety. We need to put the same effort, same concentration, same analysis into the whole issue of suicide.
“We have to identify the professions that have a high rate of suicide and what is the reason for that, and I think that isolation is one of the big factors we have to look at,” he said.
John Comer, the president of ICMSA, said that while he wasn’t shocked by the findings, it was important to move past the stereotype of the farmer as the “man’s man”.
“I think it is good to carry out these surveys so we can identify the problems facing rural Ireland and try to deal with them,” he said.
“I’m not an authority but we are all vulnerable to mental health. There is a stereotype of farmers that they have to be big burly men and a man’s man, and we have to dispel that myth.
“Big strong farmers are just as vulnerable as anyone to mental health issues.”
