Difficulty in determining cause of death delays recording of suicides

Many suicides are not being officially recorded until more than two years after death because of difficulties determining how the person died.

In recent years, between one in 20 and one in 25 of all suicides went unrecorded in the year they occurred due to delays while Garda inquiries and inquests took place.

The most recent year for which the number of suicides has now been officially confirmed is 2011, when 554 people took their own lives, 29 more than previously recorded — one more suicide each fortnight than originally thought.