Bullying at work causes 100 suicides a year here

ABOUT 100 people in Ireland kill themselves every year because of bullying and harassment at work, an international conference on suicide heard yesterday.

“At least 100 people in Ireland’s workplaces are effectively bullied to death every year,” Michael Mullally, a Galway clinical psychologist and expert on workplace bullying, said.

Speaking at the five-day International Association for Suicide Prevention conference, he urged trade unions, employers and the Government to stand up and take a lot more notice of the problem.

Calling for the setting up of a register of workplace bullies, Mr Mullally said bullies almost always won. The modern Irish workplace was a bully’s paradise and the best idea, controversial as it might sound, is “don’t fight the bully, leave the job”, he told the conference in Killarney.

The lack of remedies and the difficulties in the workplace of taking on people who were bullies — and also more senior — meant the bully nearly always won, he maintained. “I regularly advise people to get out,” he said.

He called for the setting up of a suicide prevention agency, the introduction of specific legislation and the creation of a register of workplace bullies. The conference also heard of a shocking increase in the number of Irish teenage girls attempting suicide, or self-harm.

One in every 165 adolescent girls received hospital treatment in 2005 as a result of deliberate self-harm, according to a report from the National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm. Alcohol was a factor in 41% of cases. Drug overdose was the most common method used, at 76%, and self-cutting used in about 20% of cases.

In its recommendations, the registry said there was a clear need for more resources from the Health Service Executive to provide specialist services for the 15-19 age group.

Youth suicide levels in Ireland are the fifth highest in Europe, with men under 35 accounting for 40% of all suicides — the biggest killer of men in this age group. The conference will be addressed by President Mary McAleese today.