Plea over rising suicide rate

The increasing number of deaths by suicide are a tragic illustration of the Government’s failure to invest in a prevention programme, it was claimed today.

As new research revealed 457 suicides in 2004, Dan Neville, Fine Gael health spokesman, called on the Government to take urgent action to deal with the crisis.

The figures from the Central Statistics Office showed 356 males and 101 females died by suicide last year, compared to 358 males and 86 females in 2003. The figure for 2004 was up 13 on the previous year.

Mr Neville said the Government had spent €17m on suicide prevention since the National Taskforce on Suicide reported in 1998, compared to €150m on road-building projects.

He claimed the low levels of funding levels intended to deal with the rising rates of suicide amounted to neglect.

“I do not detract from the necessity for road safety campaigns but it is quite clear that the stigma associated with suicide is obstructing it from being the subject of a nationwide prevention campaign,” he said.

“The grim statistics, such as the CSO figures showing 457 deaths by suicide, that we know of, in 2004 demonstrate the urgency of such a campaign.”

The CSO reported that Dublin, Meath, Cork, Kerry and Donegal all showed high levels of suicide.

Mr Neville, who is also president of the Irish Association of Suicidology, claimed 11,500 people had presented at accident and emergency units in 2004 having attempted to take their own lives, parasuicide.

But he warned there was no research available on the numbers of people who, having attempted suicide, presented themselves to their family doctor or did not seek help.

“It is conservatively estimated that in excess of 60,000 people attempt to take their own lives each year,” he said.

Levels of parasuicide have also increased with the National Suicide Foundation reporting a 7% increase last year, Mr Neville said a lack of spending on prevention was not the only problem.

“Ninety per cent of those who take their own lives suffer from psychological or emotional problems yet, in 2005, the Government proposes spending just €15m extra on psychiatric services,” he said.

Mr Neville said it was appalling that seven years on from the report of the National Taskforce on suicide rates continued to escalate while there was no movement on state strategy to research and prevent this tragedy.

“The recommendations of the Government taskforce, which have been largely ignored, would be an excellent place to start,” he said.