Alcohol is the main cause behind rising suicide rates in Ireland, an Oireachtas health committee heard yesterday.
Dr Conor Farren, a consultant psychiatrist at St Patrick's Hospital in Dublin, said the 41 per cent increase in alcohol consumption over the last 10 years mirrored a 44 per cent increase in suicide among young people.
"No other country in Europe has had the same increase in alcohol or suicide rates over the last 10 years. Because of our culture of drinking, we are particularly susceptible to it [rising suicide levels]," Dr Farren said.
There were no similar rises in depression or other factors during this period, which left alcohol as the only factor which could be behind rising suicide rates, he added.
Research on 31 suicides in the Cavan, Monaghan and Louth area found that 93 per cent of young men who died had alcohol in their bloodstream at the time of their death, according to the group. Fifty-eight per cent of these people had double the level of allowable blood alcohol concentration for driving.
Dr Farren was speaking on behalf of the Alcohol Action Ireland lobby group at the first of a series of Oireachtas health committee meetings on high levels of suicide in Ireland. The committee is to draw up a report when the series of meetings are concluded.
Alcohol Action Ireland said a number of measures should be considered, such as implementing the taskforce on alcohol's recommendations and raising excise duty on alcohol, as ways to limit consumption.
Dr Farren said alcohol was likely to be a trigger for suicide because it led to a "significant fall in mood".
