Forum on suicide: President Mary McAleese will tomorrow gather a range of expert health professionals and community workers at Áras an Uachtaráin to focus attention on how to help prevent the rising rates of suicide in Ireland, writes Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent
She said it was an absolute imperative of society to "break the silence" surrounding suicide and seek to address the reasons behind the rising rate of suicide.
"It is heartbreaking and utterly appalling to have to acknowledge that it is the most common cause of death among 15- to 24 year-olds in our country.
"We can take little solace from the knowledge that this trend is not confined to Ireland but is a growing global problem," she said.
Mrs McAleese said no professional or group had all the answers, but each had their own "unique pieces of the jigsaw puzzle" which we urgently need to put together.
The President, who referred to the issue in her inauguration speech last November, said addressing the problem of suicide would be a key theme of her presidency.
Tomorrow's forum is aimed at highlighting the importance of suicide prevention and to focus attention on how to achieve greater integration and partnership among groups and professionals working in the area.
While suicide rates overall in Ireland are relatively low in European terms (17th out of the 25 member states), the rising rate of suicide among young people has sparked alarm. Among 15- to 24 year-olds, Ireland now has the fifth-highest level of suicide out of the 25 EU member states.
The three-hour meeting will hear the views of those closely involved in suicide prevention and intervention.
They include Prof Kevin Malone of St Vincent's University Hospital; Dr John Connolly, a consultant psychiatrist and co-founder of the Irish Association of Suicidology; Dr Ella Arensman, director of research at the National Suicide Research Foundation; and Derek Chambers of the National Suicide Review Group.
The rapporteur of the meeting will be Dr Tony Bates, principal psychologist at the Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin.
It will also be attended by community workers and people bereaved by suicide who are working to highlight the issue of suicide and implement a range of preventative measures.
Mrs McAleese said society needed to do all it could to reduce the incidence of suicide and end the "unconscionable suffering" for everyone touched by it.
She said helping young people make the transition to adulthood was of particular importance.
"An important aspect of suicide prevention has been identified as the need to promote self-esteem and self-confidence, and to ensure that our young people develop the personal and social skills to equip them for life, to make them copers, people who can face into problems and emerge safe," President McAleese said.
"Life's problems repeat themselves from generation to generation and few things in the world are new, but if you are 15 the world's accumulated wisdom is not always visible or accessible, especially if you suffer in silence.
"We need to break that silence, to develop in our young an ability to come forward and talk about emotions and fears to another person, to recognise when they are in danger of coping badly, to realise there is help and there is hope."
Among the groups attending tomorrow's forum will be support groups established by community workers, health professionals and people bereaved by suicide in places such as Midleton, Co Cork and the Ardoyne area of Belfast.
The forum is the second such event to be organised this year. Similar events on various themes would be organised in the months ahead, she said.