Group to probe if suicide rate is higher than statistics

A LEADING suicide research group is investigating the possibility that national suicide rates could be far higher than officially recorded as some Coroners’ Court judgments deliberately re-classify the tragedies.

Under the current system the Central Statistics Office (CSO) is only able to confirm suicides which have been recorded as such in Coroners’ Courts, with just under 500 of these deaths occurring every year.

However, Dr Ella Arensman, director of research at the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF), said her group has been asked to investigate whether the real figure could be higher.