Law ‘stops’ coroner recording suicides

A coroner said he has never officially recorded a “suicide” verdict because of the outdated law coroners work under despite the fact that suicide in his West Limerick area is now at “contagion levels”.

Brendan Nix, a leading criminal barrister who has been a coroner for 12 years, said: “To record a verdict of suicide it does require a change of law. While these figures in West Limerick are not recorded as suicide, everybody knows they are suicide. But I have not recorded a verdict of suicide.

“Is that an Irish solution to an Irish problem? I don’t know. I direct a jury to find a verdict as best they can and, if they agree with the medical evidence, would they record a verdict in accordance with the evidence, and inevitably they do.