Ireland saw another drop in the number of suicides last year, but the country still has one of the highest levels of youth suicide in Europe, although the suicide rate as a whole is low by European standards.
The National Office for Suicide Prevention said the decline was welcome but added that more work needed to be done to co-ordinate and develop suicide prevention services.
According to the latest figures, the number of deaths by suicide fell to 424 in 2008 from 460 the previous year, part of a downward trend that has continued over the past five years. A total of 332 (78 per cent) of those who died by suicide last year were male, while 92 (22 per cent) were female.
A report in the Irish Times says that the figures are being treated as provisional until all the deaths have been subjected to a coroner’s inquest.
Given the population growth over this period of time, the rate of suicide is now the lowest since 1993, when suicide was decriminalised.
Ireland now has the sixth-lowest rate of suicide in the EU among its total population However, we have the fourth-highest rate of youth suicide in the EU, behind Lithuania, Finland and Estonia.
While in the past, suicide was more common among older people, the frequency of suicide is now highest among people in their 20s. Men aged 20-24 are most at risk. In addition, there has been a significant increase in the rate of deliberate self-harm among young men.
Official figures show there were 11,700 cases of deliberate self-harm at hospital emergency departments last year, involving more than 9,200 individuals.
The biggest increase was among men (up 11 per cent), the highest rate since records began six years ago. There was a smaller increase among women (4 per cent). Almost half of all presentations were by people under 30.
Publishing its annual report for 2008 today, the head of the Health Service Executive’s National Office for Suicide Prevention, Geoff Day, welcomed the ongoing overall decline in suicide.