Everyone must unite and fight to reduce suicide

Doctors, family and support groups like Pieta House must unite to reduce suicide, writes Ken Phelan

ALTHOUGH the issue has now been reduced to something of a sound bite as news features, inquests and coroners’ reports are lost amidst a deluge of social and economic woes, suicide in Ireland has nevertheless truly reached ‘epidemic proportions’.

In the years 2009-2011, the CSO recorded 1,563 deaths as being caused by suicide, compared to a figure of 636 road deaths for the same period. Figures now show that 10 people die by suicide every week in this country, eight of whom are men; alarmingly, suicide in Ireland now ranks as second highest in Europe.