Suicide statistics – Shameful neglect is costing lives

If the statistics relating to road deaths are a matter of public concern, as they should be, then those from suicides and the frightening levels of attempted suicides, should shock people out of complacency.

Despite the fact that since 1998 nearly 3,000 people mostly young people have committed suicide, each health board has received €300,000 a year to fund suicide research and prevention programmes, in contrast to the e17 million allocated for road safety this year.

In that time, about 60,000 people, mostly women, have tried to kill themselves, according to a report compiled by the Irish Examiner and published today.

It is not surprising that the issue is practically ignored: successive governments have done little to address it, especially the present Fianna Fáil - PD coalition, for the simple reason it does not win votes.

The minister of state responsible for mental health issues, Tim O'Malley, declined to be interviewed, and his department could not be bothered to deliver a promised briefing outlining the Government's position.

With such official ambivalence towards a complex and traumatic problem that affects so many families throughout the country, it is not surprising that there are only scant services and little support available to help people.

Because of the fact that little is done at official level, allied with the paucity of services, it is a subject which still, unfortunately, attracts a certain taboo.

The only vociferous proponent in the Dáil for providing more resources is Fine Gael's Dan Neville, who helped found the Irish Association of Suicidology.

Yet, strangely, although the incidence of suicide and attempted suicide permeates Irish society, his is a lonely voice in seeking to get something done by way of more resources and services.

Rather than adopting a more progressive and effective approach, the symptoms of a condition which can lead to suicide are treated by anti-depressants and sedatives.

Despite the fact that the Government might claim that progress is being made in the area, the fact is that as a percentage of overall health spending, funding for mental health has dropped from 11% to 5%.

That is a telling measure of how seriously the Government is taking the critical issue of suicide.

Without pulling punches, psychiatric nurses believe the lack of funding for suicide prevention is nothing short of criminal, while consultants say the state of mental health services is deplorable.

Given the resources made available for prevention, it would be difficult to deny the truth of those statements.