‘Suicide a glory thing among teenagers’

If the same amount of funds were put into suicide prevention strategies and mental health issues as into road safety measures “we would have a fair greater chance of reducing the number”, according to a jury foreman at a coroner’s court where 10 out of 14 recent inquests were suicides.

And Wexford coroner, Dr Seán Nixon said: “Years ago you had more road accidents at inquests, but road deaths dropped to around 230 last year, probably due to road safety campaigns aimed at reducing speeding.”

At Wexford Coroner’s Court in February, 10 of 14 inquests concerned suicides. At the end of the lengthy coroner’s court sitting, jury foreman Fergie Kehoe said the number of suicides being heard in the court was increasing each time the court sat. He suggested that an increased level of out-of-hours mental health services would help prevent some of these tragic deaths.