There were 412 deaths from suicide registered by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) last year, according to the 2022 National Office for Suicide Prevention Annual Report.
Of these, 331 were male suicides and 81 were female suicides.
Since 2012, when there were 585 deaths from suicide, there has been a significant reduction in such deaths.
The report also references self-harm data produced by the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF), which highlighted that there has been stability in self-harm rates. Between 2010 and 2020 self-harm rates decreased, with self-harm among men decreasing by 17% and self-harm among women decreasing by 5%. Despite this, self-harm remains a significant issue, particularly amongst young women in the 10-19 age group.
Priorities for 2023 include:
- Continuing to work with key stakeholders to optimise adherence to regulations and prevent paracetamol-related intentional drug overdose.
- Pilot the use of the HSE Incident Management Framework in cases of community suicide, in line with guidance developed by HSE NOSP.
- In collaboration with Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF), develop bespoke training in grief and complicated grief (long-lasting, intense grief) for staff in clinical services.
- Introduce #chatsafe (a set of evidence-informed tools and tips to support young people to communicate safely about suicide on social media) for parents and carers in Ireland.
- Continued work to develop enhanced suicide data, in real time, to enable key data driven suicide prevention interventions to be delivered.
Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler, said suicide prevention remained a key priority for her and for this Government, and she was heartened by the progress evidenced in this annual report. Funding provided to the National Office for Suicide Prevention had increased from €5 million in 2012 to €14 million in 2022, underlining the importance placed on this work.
