Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to raise the issue of the report of the national registry of deliberate self harm, which is under the auspices of the National Suicide Research Foundation, on the level of attempted suicide and self-harming 2010. Last year, 11,966 presentations, involving 9,630 individuals, were made to hospitals due to deliberate self-harming. Taking the population into account, the age-standardised rate of individuals presenting to hospitals following deliberate self-harm in 2010 marked a significant 4% increase over the rate for 2009. Moreover, it constituted the fourth successive increase in the national rate of hospital-treated deliberate self harm. In 2010, the male rate of deliberate self-harm was 4% higher than was the case in 2009. This again is the fourth successive year in which male deliberate self-harm increased, and the female rate also increased by 4%.

The economic recession is likely to be a key contributor to the recent increases in hospital-related deliberate self-harm. Since 2007, that is, the year before the onset of the recession, the report states the male rate in deliberate self-harming presenting at accident and emergency units has increased by 27%, while the equivalent increase in female rates is 7%. While there is a number of notable changes in the deliberate self-harming rate between 2009 and 2010, the most striking one concerns the 20 to 24 age group. The rate for men in the aforementioned age group increased by 19% from 2009 to 2010, while the rate for women increased by 30%.

This reveals how significant is the increase in attempted suicide and deliberate self-harming that is developing. This issue is somewhat under the radar and I have been trying to raise it for six weeks. However, I appreciate the Ceann Comhairle's office received 27 requests today and perhaps this issue is not topical. My purpose in introducing this issue is to make it topical. There also is a widespread variation in the male and female rates when examined by city and county. The lowest rates for females was recorded in County Leitrim, while the highest was in Limerick city. Relative to the national rate, a high rate of deliberate self-harm was recorded for male and female city residents, as well as men living in Sligo and women living in Longford, north Tipperary and south Dublin. I ask the Minister to look at some of the most common methods, because this is the key to involvement in this regard. Finally, the director of the National Suicide Research Foundation, Dr. Ella Arensman, and international research have shown that for each person who presents at an accident and emergency unit having deliberately self-harmed, at least six to seven others who self-harm do not present to such units. They present to their general practitioners, who do not report it at all, their families hide it because of the stigma or such people may not even report it to their own families. On that basis, between 70,000 and 80,000 people each year are deliberately self-harming in Ireland and this is a serious issue that must first be recognised by society.

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