Minister launches reports from the National Suicide Research Foundation and the National Office for Suicide Prevention

20 Oct 2015

Minister for State Kathleen Lynch will today launch the National Self-Harm Registry Annual Report 2014, along with the 2014 Annual Report of the National Office for Suicide Prevention.

These reports will be presented at the ‘New outcomes from the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland: Implications for the aftercare of people engaging in self-harm’ conference which is being held in University College Cork.

The conference will hear that in 2014, the National Self-Harm Registry recorded 11,126 presentations to hospital due to self-harm nationally. The rate of individuals presenting to hospital following deliberate self-harm was 200 per 100,000 - essentially unchanged from that in 2013. This follows three successive decreases between 2011 and 2013, showing a stabilisation of the Irish self-harm rate. However despite this, the rate in 2014 was still 6% higher than in 2007. Therefore, increased and continued support should be provided for evidence-based and mental health promotion programmes in line with relevant strategic goals and actions in the new Irish Strategy to Reduce Suicide, 2015-2020, Connecting for Life.

Professor Ivan Perry, Director of the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland and Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCC, states that: “The National Self-Harm Registry has provided important and practically useful information on the occurrence of self-harm in the community for over a decade. The Registry has been an important resource in developing the strategic goals and actions in the new National Strategy to Reduce Suicide, Connecting for Life, 2015-2020, and will monitor the progress and examine the impact of these actions over the next five years.”

Minister for State Kathleen Lynch, T.D., states that: “Ireland is unique in the world in that a National Self-Harm Registry has been operating in general hospitals in the Republic of Ireland since 2001, recording cases of intentional self-harm presenting to hospital emergency departments. The Registry’s role in determining the extent and nature of hospital-treated self-harm, as well as monitoring trends over time is of immense importance to both service providers and policy makers.”

The National Self-Harm Registry provides a unique opportunity to monitor the incidence and repetition of self-harm presentations to hospital emergency departments in Ireland with the aim of identifying high-risk groups and areas, and informing services and practitioners concerned with the prevention of suicidal behaviour. The Registry is funded by the National Office for Suicide Prevention.