‘Alarming’ increase in Suicide rate - McColgan

Ógra Shinn Féin National Organiser, Barry McColgan has said he is ‘alarmed’ at the announcement by the Department of Finance and Personnel that the north’s suicide rate has risen by 37% in the last Year.



In the latest morality statistics released by the department they reveal there were 291 registered suicides in 2006 compared to 213 in 2005.

Mr. McColgan said he was ‘shocked’ and ‘alarmed’ by the statistics. However he said that ‘this trend will continue unless the governments take this issue on board and invest money into mental health services and into bodies aimed at helping vulnerable people in society.’

‘We in Ógra Shinn Féin had written to both British Direct rule minister Paul Goggins and also Mary Harney in the south calling for the implementation of an all Ireland suicide prevention strategy. We believed it was nonsensical investing money into two different strategies when the common sense approach would be to implement an all Ireland strategy on the issue, where resources and results could be achieved collectively. Whilst the British direct rule minister refused to meet Ógra, the department of social services and public safety initiated a consultation process and released a document entitled ‘Suicide Prevention in Northern Ireland- A New Focus’ we believed it lacked the all island dimension, which we believed would be best used to seriously address this issue."

"However this will act as a wake up call to ministers that this major issue must be addressed immediately. It is peoples lives at risk here, that is the reality of the situation and I would ask both departments north and south to make more money available for mental health and this issue of suicide prevention. It is one of the biggest killers of young people on this island and must be addressed without delay. However it is regrettable that such statistics have to be made public before ministers will sit up and take notice.”