The number of deaths by suicide in the State rose by more than 40 per cent in the first three months of the year.
The latest official figures, published today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), indicated the number of people who took their own lives in the first quarter was 106, a rate of 9.6 per 100,000 of population.
The number of suicides registered during the same period last year was 74, a rate of 6.8 per 100,000 of population.
The CSO's Vital Statisticsreport showed that four out of five suicides were male.
The figures upset the downward trend in officially recorded suicides witnessed in the State over the past five years.
Last year, the number who took their own lives fell from 460 to 424, which represented a 16-year low. However, many experts believe the figures underestimate the true extent of the problem.
The CSO report indicated there were 18,787 births in the State in first three months of the tear, down 2 per cent on last year’s record of 19,154 for the same period.
Some 42 per cent of the births were to first time mothers. The average age of mothers was 31.2 years, ranging from 29.1 years in Limerick City to 33.0 in Dun Laoighaire Rathdown.
There were 6,405 births, 34 per cent of all births, registered as outside of marriage during the period and of these 18 per cent were to unmarried parents with the same address.
The data shows there were 8,419 deaths registered in the first quarter, giving rise to an annual death rate of 7.6 per 1,000 of population, which was almost 12 per cent higher than the same period last year.
More than one third or 34 per cent of the deaths were attributed to circulatory diseases, while 28 per cent were caused by cancer and 15 per cent attributed to respiratory diseases.