German project to make Irish debut

A UNIQUE project in Germany that has dramatically reduced the levels of suicide, self-harm and depression will be launched in Ireland tomorrow.

The community-focused EU-funded project will be piloted in Cork and Kerry for two years, and then its rates of suicide and self-harm will be compared to rates in the mid-west and south-east where the scheme will not be in operation. If successful, it could be expanded nationwide.

Deliberate self-harm levels dropped by 26% in the Nuremburg region where the intervention project ran between 2000 and 2002, while rates of self-harm jumped 24% in the Wurzburg region, where the scheme was not used.