by Bernie English bernie@limerickpost.ie
LIMERICK city has the second highest incidence of suicide in the country, according to a report compiled by the RTE Investigate unit.
Using Central Statistics Office figures over the last 14 years, the unit found that Limerick city and county came second only to Cork for suicide statistics.
And a leading city rescue unit spokesman said he is not surprised, pointing to the lack of out-of-hours emergency facilities to deal with people in suicidal crisis and calling for a secure unit where people can be kept safe in an emergency.
Limerick City recorded an average rate of suicide of 16.7 per 100,000 people over the fourteen years while the rate in the rest of Limerick County was 12.2.
Cork City recorded the highest average rate at 18.5 and similarly the rate in the rest of Cork County was lower at 13.5.
Limerick city also had the highest single figure when suicide by gender data was examined. In 2000, the rate of male suicide climbed to 61 deaths per 100,000 of the population.
From 2000 to 2013, the national average was 11.8.
Commenting on the figures, Peter Hogan, of the Limerick Marine Search and Rescue unit said he is “not surprised”.
“Years ago, we had psychiatric units full of people who didn’t need to be there at all. Now we’ve gone to the other extreme. When a person is in crisis and suicidal, there is no secure place to send them to where they will be safe,” he told the Limerick Post.
Mr Hogan said that while there are mental health treatment facilities in unit 5 B of the University Hospital “there is no place in the Mid West where someone who is suicidal can be helped outside business hours. The best that we can do if we meet someone who is suicidal is call an ambulance or the Gardaí. They’ll be sent to the hospital and discharged after a few hours”.
Mr Hogan said that while organisations such as Pieta House are doing sterling work, “they don’t have funding to provide secure accommodation and they are a nine-to-five operation”.
While there are specially trained nurses on duty at the hospital emergency department, Mr Hogan said there are “no consultants or psychiatrists and there is nowhere to send people who are having a mental health crisis.
“We need some way of keeping people safe when that happens and we don’t have any place”, he said.
