Sir, – The decline in the suicide rate in 2010 reported by Jamie Smyth, Social Affairs Correspondent (Home News, June 30th) may seem surprising in view of the alarmist predictions by many commentators that our high and rising level of unemployment would lead to a surge in suicides.
However, in a recent study ( Economic and Social Review, Spring 2011) we drew attention to the dominant role of alcohol consumption, rather than unemployment, in the rise in male suicide rates towards the end of the last century. While too much should not be read into one year's data, the recent decline in suicides is intelligible in light of the continuing fall in Irish alcohol consumption. – Yours etc,