The changing fabric of rural Ireland where local post offices, pubs and creameries have closed down is leading to many people feeling isolated and could be contributing to suicides, psychiatrists have warned.
Dr Moosajee Bhamjee, a psychiatrist based in Co Clare, said he saw people of all ages who mentioned one of the reasons for their loneliness as the closure of the local pub, one of their few social outlets. Some 437 pubs closed around the State in 2006, according to figures from the Vintners' Federation of Ireland.
"The whole rural structures have changed . . . there is a marked loneliness of people in the countryside now and they feel isolated as well," Dr Bhamjee said.
Furthermore, he said more people were drinking at home on their own. They were drinking after a long commute home or after work, which was becoming very stressful nowadays.
"As you drink more you can become low in yourself and it can take away controls," he said, adding that the result could be harming oneself. "We must do something before it gets worse . . . we need more residents' association meetings and a transport system locally," he said.
Dr Martin Lucey, a consultant psychiatrist in Killarney, said the closure of rural pubs would certainly lead to increasing isolation and there was a link between social isolation and suicide.
Asked how much of a link there might be between pub closures in rural areas and suicide, he said: "It could be a factor but I would have thought it would be a minor factor."
Dr Kieran Power, a consultant psychiatrist in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, said the fact that the whole social network in rural communities was disintegrating was contributing to people's isolation and loneliness, rather than the closure of rural pubs alone, which may well be a contributing factor.
"The closing down of post offices, marts, and small rural shops - all areas where people could meet or have some social contact - could well be increasing the sense of social isolation," he said.
"The other thing is the demise of people dropping in on neighbours. You have a lot of people now in rural areas not from the area originally and they tend to live separate lives."
Suicide rates in Ireland have risen from nine per 100,000 people in the early 1980s to 15 per 100,000 between the years 2000 and 2004.
Anyone affected by suicide can call the Samaritans on 1850- 609090.