New National Framework for Suicide Prevention

Jun 13, 2014 | Publications

Irish Rural Link welcomes the opportunity to make this submission on a new National Strategic Framework for Suicide Prevention and recognises the committed work of the National Office of Suicide Prevention towards reducing the high suicide rate in Ireland. The opportunity to contribute is widely welcomed as the last strategy was published nearly a decade ago and it is fair to say that Ireland has experienced significant economic and social change since 2005. Suicide and mental health issues have emerged as a real problem in world society not just Ireland. Suicide is now among the top leading causes of deaths globally for all age groups. Unofficially in Ireland on average there are now 10 deaths by suicide a week or 526 in 2013 while officially the CSO stated there were 554 deaths by suicide in 2011. In the period from 1st of January to 31st of December 2012, the registry recorded 12,010 deliberate self presentations to hospital[1]. The reason behind listing these statistics is to emphasise the need for action to combat the high level of deaths by suicide in Ireland. Irish Rural Link Submission to National Office for Suicide Prevention (pdf)