Ireland has a much higher suicide rate than was once the case. It is something we worry about as a nation. And yet at the same time we are having two national conversations which could well have the effect of ‘normalising’ suicide. One is the conversation about assisted suicide and the other is the conversation about suicidal thoughts in pregnant women.

After the decision by the Supreme Court this week not to recognise a constitutional right to assisted suicide, various commentators argued that the right should be granted in some other way. They took for granted that it is perfectly understandable that someone who is suffering greatly would want to want to end their own lives.

It should be absolutely obvious what kind of signal this is sending out to all those who are suffering greatly and are terminally ill (or perhaps not terminally ill).

In respect of the abortion debate, we have now had a sustained national conversation about suicidality which might also have the effect of ‘normalising’ suicide.

This exact fear was expressed by Professor Kevin Malone of the Department of Psychiatry at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, in his submission to the Oireachtas Health Committee hearings on abortion.

In that submission he said: “As a contributor to advising our national suicide prevention strategy, I can foresee a great challenge to educators of young boys and teens in particular about how to teach them how to cope with male suicidal impulses in relation to adversity in an Irish society where suicidal thinking in females is legitimized by the State, albeit under the particular circumstance of pregnancy.

“Based on my research, knowledge and understanding of the epidemiology of suicide in Ireland, there is a greater likelihood that this legislation may contribute to an increased risk of suicide in Irish males through foregrounding suicidality within the State for females, consequent to this legislation – an amplified cultural suicide signal through a normalisation effect.

” A similar increase in non-pregnant young females may also be a consequence through the same mechanism. This surely would then become a law of un-intended consequences for Irish society.”

This is why both of the above mentioned conversations may be literally deadly. The only responsible way to have the conversations is to discourage suicidal thoughts to the very best of our ability. Instead we are doing the opposite.