SUICIDE IN IRELAND - 1982 TO 1992

During the period of 1982 to 1992 there were 3,142 official deaths by suicide in Ireland. The Irish suicide rate is now rising to such an ex tent that it officially threatens to surpass road traffic accidents as the major cause of death. Unofficially, this may already be the case, yet there exists little collated information regarding these people. This paper attempts to rectify this question by examining all official ly recorded suicide deaths that occurred in Ireland during the years m entioned by age, sex, marital status, method, socio-economic grouping and occupation. This paper provides a profile of those who have died t hrough suicide and identifies possible high-risk groups within Irish s ociety that seem to be more prone to suicide.