Every week at least eight people in the State die by suicide. Every day an estimated 16 attempt to take their own lives. Countless others suffer from this legacy of self-harm having lost a loved one, and constantly ask the question: "Why?"
Suicide has become a troubling fact of modern Ireland, as synonymous with contemporary society as the boom in new car sales and the decline in church vocations. What makes it so perplexing is its prevalence at a time when we are told that, materially, we have never had it so good.
Between 1970 and 1999 the suicide rate in the Republic increased more than sixfold, from 1.8 to 11.7 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. In the 1990s alone annual suicide deaths breached the 300 mark for the first time, then the 400 mark, and finally the 500 mark, reaching a high of 504 in 1998.
Suicide is now the second most common cause of death among 15 - to 24-year-old males. Among men aged between 25 and 34 years, the suicide rate here is twice that of men in the same age bracket in the UK.
In 1999, the last year for which complete figures are available, there were 439 suicides, or one per 8,500 people in the State. Almost four-fifths, or 349, were of males. Ninety were female.
The disparity between the sexes lends strength to the argument that prevention strategies should be geared towards men specifically, rather than being generic. And indeed the Government-established National Task Force on Suicide acknowledged in its 1998 report: "The increase in suicide in recent decades is primarily a male phenomenon."
But it cannot be ignored that female suicides have also risen steadily. Between 1979 and 1999 suicides per 100,000 women rose from 2.9 to 4.8. In the same period suicides per 100,000 men rose from 8.6 to 18.8. The ratio of male-to-female suicides has fluctuated each year, from 4:1 to 7:1.
For both sexes, suicides have tended to peak in the 15-24 age bracket, with the 2534 bracket accounting for the next-largest group of deaths. Per capita, deaths generally reach a low each year in the 65-74 age bracket and then increase again in the 75plus bracket. Female suicides tend to be more evenly spread over the age brackets than male.
Another difference between male and female suicide deaths is that, in the case of the former, more violent means tend to be used. Almost half of all male suicides between 1995 and 1999 were by hanging, 21 per cent by drowning, 17 per cent by poisoning and 9 per cent by the use of firearms. In contrast, only a quarter of female deaths in the same period were by hanging, and 4 per cent by firearms. Drowning (35 per cent) and poisoning (29 per cent) were the most common methods used by women.
Slight regional variations can also be found in the figures. While all provinces experienced an increase in male suicide, the rate for Leinster, although doubling from 7.5 to 15 per 100,000 between 1976 and 1998, has risen less steeply than the other three, more rural, provinces. In the same period their suicide rates almost trebled from 7.5 to 21 per 100,000.
As regards occupational and socio-economic groups, the highest suicide rates can be found - in common with other countries - in the farming community, among the unemployed and in the caring professions.
In 1999, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures, farmers accounted for 54 deaths, skilled manual workers 50, non-manual wage-earners 48, unskilled manual workers 41, white-collar workers 29, lower professional and semi-skilled manual workers 17 each, employers and managers 15, farm labourers and fishermen 12, and higher professional and salaried employees nine each.
There has been no major shift between categories in recent years, with suicides rising relatively evenly across all groups. The one exception is a rise among women in the lower professional category. Some 11 per cent of female suicides fell into this category in the second half of the 1990s, compared with 6.9 per cent in the first half. The lower professional group has become the only socio-economic group where female suicides outnumber male. Between 1995 and 1999, 44 female suicides fell into the category compared to 34 male.
A 1995 research project attempted to break the CSO figures into occupations by tracing each suicide death between 1982 and September 1991. The study found the highest rates were among veterinarians (34 suicides per 100,000 such workers), dentists (32.1) and soldiers (22.2). Access to means of carrying out suicide in these professions was cited as a contributory factor in the high rates.
Other high-risk groups were taxidrivers (21.2), pharmacists (19.6), bar staff (17.2), carpenters (14.6), publicans (13.1), chefs (12.6), chemists (12.4), gardai (12), electricians (11.6), nurses (11.4), accountants (8.2) and teachers (6.3).
The number of suicides each year in prison custody ranged from one to six in the past decade. Last year there were three prison suicides, all from hanging.
Returning to the total figures, there is a feeling among suicidologists that a peak may have been reached in 1998 and that the figures have started levelling off since. Provisional figures for last year show there were 226 male suicides for the first nine months of 2000, 15 fewer than in same period in 1999 and 67 fewer than the same period in 1998.
"There is this idea," says Dr Derek Chambers of the National Suicide Review Group, "that we've been undergoing a process of adjustment to the norm for western Europe and that things will start levelling out now."
However, he adds, it is too early to say that this is the case. "There is a certain amount of fluctuation every year, so we try not to look at things in terms of one year but of three to five years."