Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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121. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of suicides and parasuicides during each of the past ten years in Irish prisons. [39902/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that there have been 16 deaths in custody which have been determined as death by suicide in the period from 2006 to 2016 inclusive. The Irish Prison Service has also advised that there are 25 inquests pending; no cause of death has been determined in those cases as the coroners inquest has not been completed.

The Irish Prison Service has confirmed that it does not currently collate data on para suicide in the manner requested. However, it has recently developed a matrix on incidents of self harm which will allow it to differentiate between the levels of intent in incidents of self harm and identify incidents of para suicide in the future.