‘Alcohol main cause of rise in suicide rate’

ALCOHOL is a “fundamental cause” of the massive increase in suicide in recent years, an Oireachtas sub-committee heard yesterday.

But the Government has failed to counter the aggressive efforts of the drinks industry to increase sales, the sub-committee, which is probing the high levels of suicide in Ireland, was told.

Dr Conor Farren, a consultant psychiatrist at St Patrick's Hospital in Dublin, said that there had been a vast increase in alcohol consumption and a parallel increase in the suicide rate.

Alcohol consumption increased by 41% in the 10-year period to 2000. In roughly the same timeframe, suicide rates rose by 44%. Although suicide was a complex issue, there was "no other potential cause" than alcohol for the increase in the number of people killing themselves.

"There has been no increase in the incidence of depression, there has been no change in the method of reporting of suicide, and there has been no change in suicide causation apart from the increase in alcohol consumption," he said.

Alcohol could cause suicide because it was capable of producing a "significant fall" in mood. In addition, alcohol could be disinhibiting "in other words, alcohol can allow someone to do what they might think about, but never do, when sober".

The drinks industry, he said, had significantly increased its expenditure on marketing in order to boost sales over the past two decades. But the State, by contrast, had been "passive" in its response by failing to introduce strong regulations to counter this.

Dr Declan Bedford of Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) told the sub-committee the drinks industry should have no role in the development of Government policy on the issue.

On Monday, the Irish Examiner revealed that the Government had shelved a bill that would have protected children and adolescents from over-exposure to alcohol advertising, following talks with the industry.