Suicide and traffic accidents were the main causes of death in cases coming before Dublin City Coroner's Court in the first six months of this year. A survey of 231 inquests - representing about 90 per cent of the cases between January and June - reveals that 54 deaths, or 23.4 per cent, were suicides. Road traffic accidents accounted for 52 deaths, representing 22.5 per cent of the number examined. There were 30 deaths related to illegal drugs, representing 13 per cent of the total surveyed. When deaths due to prescription drugs are added in, the total number of deaths due to drugs was 38, or 16.5 per cent. Falls accounted for 27 deaths (11.7 per cent), and alcohol was the causative factor in 18 of the deaths (almost 8 per cent).
The coroner has responsibility under the law to investigate certain deaths and to return a verdict. The coroner's court investigates all unexpected deaths and those due to unnatural causes, including traffic accidents. All deaths in prison are investigated.
A jury is required for certain cases, including all traffic accidents. The survey, conducted by two journalists, Eamonn Holmes and Billy Foley, who cover most sittings of the Dublin City Coroner's Court, shows that 41 men and 13 women committed suicide, and that 19 of them were under 24 years old. A further 11 were between 25 and 34, 16 were between 35 and 50, and eight were over 50. Most of the victims were single. However, a verdict of suicide was not returned in all these cases. The coroner is precluded by law from returning such a verdict unless there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the person involved took his own life with the intention of doing so. This has been set down by the Supreme Court. In cases where this standard of proof cannot be met, even though the facts of the case point clearly to a suicide, the coroner must return an open verdict. In the survey, cases where the facts pointed to a suicide but where an open verdict was recorded for legal reasons were counted as suicides. In the case of deaths due to illegal drugs, the majority of victims were males - 25, compared to five females - and almost all of them were single. And 25 of the 30 victims were under 35. Only one of the victims was over 50.
Of the eight deaths due to prescribed medicines, five were women and three were men. All the victims were over 25. Only four of the 38 people who died due to legal or illegal drugs were married.
Statistics for traffic deaths showed 41 males and 11 females were killed. Exactly half of the victims - 26 - were under 25, and 12 were under 18. The majority of those killed in road traffic accidents were single.
Alcohol abuse accounted for the deaths of 10 males and eight females. All were over 25, and eight were over 50. Although some inquests at this coroner's court were not covered by the survey, the authors believe the figures give a true representation of the pattern of deaths.