“So far in 2022 we have 13 farm-related suicides in Cork”
The topics of ‘mental health’ and ‘driven to suicide’ are being conflated, or ‘mixed up’, in policy devised by the Department of Health. That is according to several county councillors, who were reacting this week to a letter received by the council in January.
In April last year, Cllr Frank Roche asked that a letter be sent to the department enquiring into research into the mental wellbeing of farmers in Co Cork. The letter the council got back did not directly address the query, but pointed to a national health policy, ‘Sharing the Vision’, and that “all aspects of mental health services will be improved through the implementation of the national mental health policy.”
However, Cllr Roche said that this was not addressing the issue he was speaking about, and detailed a recent experience.
“So far in 2022 we have 13 farm-related suicides in Cork. That’s double what we had this time last year. I know 41 people who are victims, and I do realise that there are other people affected and my heart goes out to them, but the reason I speak about farmers in particular is because that’s my background, and it’s what I know.”
He told the council of man who had taken his own life through financial worries, and spoke himself of the ‘dread’ of seeing the postman coming, a sentiment he said was shared by many farmers he speaks to.
The language used in official correspondence could be ‘friendlier’, said Cllr Michael Paul Murtagh. He agreed with his colleague that the subjects of suicide and that of mental health issues were different things in this respect. He also expanded on the issue of how to communicate with people who are already having a difficult time.
“I know these letters can be cold and informal, and maybe we need to ask these institutions to look at that - look at the letters we ourselves send, from the council, on grass verge cutting for example. Farmers have a lot to be dealing with it and it’s just one more thing and maybe the language used could be friendlier.”
Gillian Coughlan, the county mayor, agreed too, pointing at the digital divide that means the personal interaction and touch was lacking. “People’s lives are not straight lines. People get into trouble, and it may not be a big thing, but it feels like a big thing.” She also agreed that the letter from the department intertwined two very different issues.
Cllr Liam Quaide assented with his colleagues, saying that there was a ‘ particular type of crisis facing farmers'. "It’s not simply a matter of connecting people with services - we need to look at this from a wider angle.”
However, while agreeing in principle that the much more needs to be done, there was no active response put forward at the recent full council meeting.
For support on any of the issues discussed in this article, please contact the following numbers:
Text HELLO to 50808; Samaritans: free phone 116 123 or e-mail jo@samaritans.ie. Equally, The Haven Hub in Mitchelstown can be called or text on 089 2618815, 7pm-11pm every Saturday.