THE rising incidence of suicide in Ireland cannot be totally attributed to the fact that there is now more of a willingness to record such deaths, the Minister for Health told the annual conference of the Psychiatric Nurses' Association yesterday.
Over the past number of years, Mr Noonan said, there had been a substantial increase in the number of suicides recorded, and it appeared that young men aged between 25 and 34 were most at risk.
The Minister acknowledged that beyond this there was little hard information on the problem, but said the interim report of the National Task Force on Suicide would be finalised by July, and this would be a major step in tackling the information deficit.
The PNA chairman, Mr Seamus Murphy, said he believed the 491 recorded suicides last year "fell far short of the actual incidence of suicide". Last year's figures represented an increase of 40 per cent over those for 1994 and "in my view the real tragedy is only beginning to emerge".
The figures did not take into account the enormous number of people, particularly the elderly and young, who felt life was not worth living.
He said he believed a number of suicides occurred following premature discharge of patients from psychiatric units. "Over the last number of years there have been several reports of patients who, having been turned away from one hospital or referred to another, either committed suicide or murdered somebody before they reached a hospital," Mr Murphy added.