Suicide figures for the Republic are significantly higher than previously calculated, a leading suicide expert has said. And the first scientific evidence to support the clustering of suicides here has also emerged.
Kevin Malone, professor of psychiatry at University College Dublin (UCD) and St Vincent's University Hospital, will present new research at an international meeting on youth suicide in Dublin next week.
It shows that when internationally accepted reporting norms are applied to death statistics, the number of annual suicides is closer to 600 than the currently accepted figure of about 500.
It is research practice in most countries to include deaths classified as undetermined with those classified as suicide when calculating death rates. This is because in some instances a coroner may, for legal reasons, label a death as "undetermined", even when, for example, a person has died by self-poisoning.
When Prof Malone examined data for the five-year period 2000-2004, he found there were 2,876 deaths by suicide. This equates to an average of 575 deaths from suicide each year.
These latest figures show suicide rates in the State have risen from nine per 100,000 people in the five-year period 1980- 1984, to 15 per 100,000 in the five years 2000-2004.
"If we are really serious about understanding suicide in Ireland, we have to do all we can to know the magnitude of the problem," Prof Malone told The Irish Times. "Other countries include 'undetermined deaths' in their suicide rates for research purposes, reflecting the sum of definite and probable suicide deaths, and so should we."
The UCD professor will also present evidence to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention workshop of a "clustering" phenomenon among young males who took their own lives here between 2000 and 2004.
Clustering is defined as suicides occurring close together in time and space beyond the rate that would be normally expected.
"We need to know for sure whether or not 'rolling clusters' are contributing to national suicide rates, and if they are, we need to know what individuals and groups are more vulnerable."
In further groundbreaking research using psychobiographical interview techniques, Prof Malone and his team interviewed the families and friends of 47 suicide victims from 15 counties.
A majority of those who died were men under the age of 25, while around two-thirds had communicated their intent to take their own lives to another person within two weeks of completing suicide.
The researchers found that in 30 of the 47 cases the victim had experienced depression at some time in their lives. And fewer than half of suicide deaths could be attributed to alcohol.
Significantly, Prof Malone and his colleagues also found the first concrete scientific evidence that suicide clusters are occurring in the Republic.
They identified six distinct clusters among the 47 deaths. In one suicide cluster, there were five deaths in people under 17 years of age in a 12-week period, all of which occurred in a five-kilometre radius.
"Our preliminary evidence from the Suicide in Ireland Survey has identified the existence of multiple suicide clusters around the country in the past three years," Prof Malone said. "And young people are particularly vulnerable in the aftermath - days, weeks and months - of a young suicide death in their immediate locality and community."
The Dublin International Workshop on Youth Suicide, co- funded by the 3Ts (Turning The Tide of Suicide) charity, takes place in the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland next weekend. The interactive meeting is open to the public on Sunday August 26th from 11.30am to 1pm. And the International Association of Suicide Prevention is holding a major conference in Killarney beginning on August 27th.