Death certificate plans: We must be open about suicide

Traditionally, suicide has been swept under the carpet in this country.

No doubt, that explains why a leading campaigner for greater public openness about suicide is trenchantly opposed to Tánaiste Joan Burton’s plan for new regulations to allow a “short form” of death certificate which would not say how a person had lost his or her life.

The expressed aim of both the minister and Government is to limit the suffering of families who have lost loved ones to suicide. Not surprisingly, people are divided on such a highly sensitive question. Arguably, however, it could be a backward and unacceptable step. With about 400 deaths from suicide each year, a death certificate which omits the cause of death could be seen as a political ploy to conceal this socially and economically embarrassing national statistic.

In the past, if a suicide was mentioned at all, it was usually whispered behind the back of the hand that a certain member of a certain family had taken their own life. In the eyes of the community at large it was a taboo subject. And for the majority of families whose loved ones had taken their own lives, it was a badge of dishonour. Indeed, so deeply had this perception taken hold in the national psyche that former taoiseach Bertie Ahern infamously used a suicide reference to attack those who were critical of his government’s economic policy. “ I don’t know how people who engage in that don’t commit suicide” was what he said. Faced with an outburst of public anger over the scurrilous nature of his throw away remark, he was forced to apologise.

Fortunately, the sense of disgrace attached to suicide has tended to diminish in recent times. No doubt, the increase in the number of people who have resorted to that familiar cry of despair, especially during the country’s economic collapse, has turned it into a topic likely to be more freely discussed in public, invariably accompanied by well-intended gestures of sympathy for both the victim and the family concerned.

Among those campaigning for better understanding of suicide, Kerry coroner Terence Casey has been a leading advocate of the importance of greater openness on this dark subject. An outspoken crusader for openness about suicide, he has already voiced his direct opposition to Coalition plans for a new death certificate that would not mention how a person died. According to Mr Casey, the proposed regulations would be ‘’totally and absolutely the reverse’’ of what he has been doing to encourage people to talk more openly about suicide.

For several years now, as coroner for East and South Kerry, an area which had become a suicide blackspot, he has adopted a policy of speaking openly about the matter in a bid to bring home to people that it should not be hidden. His argument is persuasive. Effectively, since he began addressing the issue openly, the incidence of suicide has fallen dramatically in the area. So far this year, four people have taken their own lives there compared to 18 or 19 suicides per year in past years. As he succinctly put it: "I believe it’s better for people themselves to talk about it because they will then be more inclined to seek help and go to organisations that can help them."