Vol. 403 No. 3
3 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Health the level of suicides recorded so far this year and for each of the last five years; his views on whether the problem is becoming increasingly serious; if he will set up a commission or review group to give the necessary research basis for policy initiatives in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
40 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Health if he will provide figures to indicate the suicide rate in recent years in view of reports of a major increase in such incidence; if he will outline the most likely root cause of the problem if these reports are accurate; and the measures, if any, which can be taken to assist people with such tendencies.
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 3 and 40 together.
The number of recorded suicides for each year since 1985 is as follows: 1985, 276; 1986, 283; 1987, 245; 1988, 266; 1989, 252; and 1990, (to 30 June), 145.
It is generally accepted that there is some under-recording of the number of suicides in Ireland, as in many other countries. However, media reports that the real suicide rate may be very much greater than that shown in the official data are not borne out by recent studies with which the Central Statistics Office has co-operated.
These studies suggest that, in the areas studied, the official statistics understated the number of suicides by at most 15-20 per cent. Discussions are taking place between my Department, the Department of Justice and the Central Statistics Office to consider the feasibility of any changes in the reporting arrangements which might help to increase the accuracy of the official statistics.
Statistics published by the World Health Organisation show that Ireland's suicide rate is among the lowest in the European Community. There is no evidence of any marked worsening of the problem and I do not consider the establishment of a commission or review group to be warranted at the present time.
The causes of suicide are complex. Changes in the cohesiveness of society, depression, an erosion of traditional values, a lack of employment opportunities and social isolation are all factors which can contribute to individual distress. The health services provide support to those immediately identifiable as distressed and our psychiatric services are being further developed to provide early intervention treatment programmes at local community level and to help people under psychological stress.
A brief question. The time for dealing with priority questions is exhausted.
Is the Minister aware that the annual reports of a number of coroners have suggested that on death certificates deaths have been recorded as misadventure and so on when they were suicide cases? Is he aware of the significant increase, for example in the Waterford area, in the number of young people committing suicide? Community psychiatric services were never weaker or more vulnerable. This is a product of that situation.
A number of surveys have been carried out in recent years involving the CSO and all the evidence is that the level of under-reporting is extremely small. There was a substantial increase in the number of recorded suicides since 1970 but it is accepted that this is because we had a low base. In the seventies suicide was rarely recorded as a cause of death. That has been accepted. The surveys showed that the figures were under reported to a very small extent.
We now proceed to other questions.
