SPENDING ON SUICIDE AWARENESS needs to match the funding for road safety campaigns, elected representatives have said.
Following Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council, Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly (FF) has been requested to “increase the spend on the on the suicide awareness campaign as it is becoming more prevalent in communities”.
Cllr PJ Ryan (IND) who tabled the motion said he did so following numerous incidents in the county involving young people. “We spend twice the amount of money on road safety than suicide awareness,” he claimed.
Deaths from suicide are much more compared to those from road fatalities, Ryan said but the funding does not reflect this, “it is a serious injustice, we need a major awareness campaign to inform young people that suicide is final and there is no coming back from it”. 2019 figures cited by the former Mayor of Clare detailed how 524 people died from suicide in 2019 compared with the 173 deaths on Irish roads.
Cratloe based Ryan told the meeting how he prevented somebody from committing suicide within the past decade as a result of the training he received from the Shannon & District Lions Club. “If we only save one person, that is a life worth saving”.
Clare previously had the highest suicide rate in the country, Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) stated. “Suicide is more complex than just a decision, the very fact that someone can progress this far is a reflection of health services in our country”. She added, “We need to stop hush hushing the word, you commit a sin or commit a crime, you don’t commit suicide”. Survivors of suicide should be consulted to see what they think can make an impact. “Suicide is not the solution, life is the solution,” the Shannon woman said.
Over a 24 hour period in the morgue of University Hospital Limerick (UHL) in recent weeks, nine of the bodies were there because of suicide, Cllr Michael Begley (IND) said in what he called “a very stark picture”. He acknowledged, “it is a tough subject but the solutions are even tougher”. The importance of lending out a hand was stressed by Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF).
More awareness is needed, Cllr Ann Norton (IND) believed. “Unfortunately nearly every family across Ireland has come across a family member or close friend that has taken their lives due to the fact that they have found it very difficult to find help or support, our hospitals are overcrowded, the supports are not there. In Clare, alone anyone under the age of 16 there isn’t a facility for younger people, they have to go to Galway and if they don’t have beds in Galway they end up in adult beds in Limerick which is not acceptable, I do believe a suicide awareness campaign is something which should be done. Road deaths are continuously highlighted, suicide should also be highlighted, it is happening on a day to day basis and people have to be aware of it”.
“A couple of years ago we would never have had this conversation,” Cllr Mary Howard (FG) noted. She said that one of the speakers to the motion was recently bereaved by suicide, “the use of language is hugely important, you commit murder or fraud, you take your life with your own hands”.
Clubs, community and voluntary groups are on the frontline in recognising the issue, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) said. “If this extra funding can be put in place, hopefully it will be there to achieve for the people of this county, we’re well aware of what a lot of families have gone through in recent years, it is important that funding is increased, I would love to see more done at secondary school,” Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) said.
It is “a highly complex issue”, Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) commented while adding, “most suicides are sudden crisis and some feel there is no way out”. Cllr John Crowe (FG) said, “There isn’t a community in the county or country that hasn’t been affected by this”.
Volunteers who patrol the River Shannon with Limerick Suicide Watch have struggled to get funding to store their gear, jackets and visors, Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FG) flagged as an example of the shortfalls.
