A CORONER who has issued previous warnings about growing rates of suicide in his area has spoken about the highest-ever number of suicides before him at a sitting of his court in Killarney.
Six of the eight deaths on the list for yesterday’s sitting of south Kerry coroner’s court were due to suicide. All occurred this year and were from the Killarney area. They were all men, ranging in age from 14 to 58.
Terence Casey, at the close of the proceedings attended by family and friends of the dead, said: “Those who take their own lives don’t take into consideration the hurt, sorrow and pain that they leave behind them.”
Help was available, he said, but suicidal people did not know where to turn to look for this help. He urged that help lines be published with any report.
In his 10 years as coroner, he said, he had never seen so many cases of suicides in one sitting.