Co Wexford has highest rate of suicide in the country
WEXFORD has the highest rate of suicide in the country, ye t no emergenc y mental health services exist in Wexford, Independent Deputy Mick Wallace told the Dáil.
In the last month, he said, two teenagers committed suicide there. Charities like Pieta House and the Samaritans do good work, he said but their supports cannot replace the complex psychological and psychiatric care that should be provided by HSE mental health services.
Deputy Wallace read into the Dáil record a statement from Olwen Rowe from Wexford, a sister of Kenneth Rose, who took his own life at the age of 32. In the statement she outlined the attempts Kenneth’s parents had made to obtain heath support for their son.
Ms Rowe said that sometimes there are warning signs and there’s the unthinkable nightmare of seeing your loved one decline, seeing their distress and repeatedly trying to access professional support for them, but hitting wall after wall. Kenneth was a good friend to two of his own sons, Deputy Wallace said.
In reply, Minister of State Finian McGrath said the National Office for Suicide Prevention is part of the HSE and was specifically established to co-ordinate suicide prevention efforts around the country and to implement Connecting for Life.
To support NOSP, funding was increased from €3.7 million in 2010 to the current level of €12 million. An additional €275 million was provided in 2015 for additional resource officers for suicide prevention and for priority actions under Connecting for Life.
‘Wexford’s local Connecting for Life plan was launched in January 2016 and is aligned to the national strategy,’ he said. ‘As suicide affects each person in the community, this local plan is a collaboration by individuals and statutory and non-statutory bodies in the communities throughout Wexford. It has built on work already begun in Wexford since the initial countrywide plan was launched in 2004.
‘ The work of NOSP has helped to reduce the number of suicides in Ireland from 495 in 2010 to 392 in 2017. It must be noted that the 2017 figures are provisional and by their nature are subject to change and so should be interpreted with caution at this time.
‘I accept the Deputy’s point that nothing will bring back Kenneth Rowe, the lovely young man about whom he spoke, or take away the sadness in his sister’s heart,’ he added. ‘We must develop mental health services that will help young people, in particular young men like Kenneth.’