Suicide, Road deaths - Government figures - how accurate are they? Funds needed urgently

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Saturday March 03, 2007 21:32

by Kevin T. Walsh - Social Inclusion and Justice

EU Office, Dawson Street - a host of materials relating to EU countries and for free

Article 12 of the UN International Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) provides the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of mental health. This right is the central human dignity of the person. Principles for the protection of persons with mental health - the MI principles were adopted by the UN in 1991 and provide standards in relation to informed consent of treatment. Protection of confidentiality standards - the rights of people in mental health facilities and the provision of resources. This principle is the right of everyone without of exception to the best available mental health care.

I ask the question tonight - with our economy alledgedly booming - why is our suicide crisis representative of such a shambles particularly in area of mental health care?

The Government is in shambles. According to a newly formed alliance which claims that the number of people who take their lives is far higher than Government records. The Action on Suicide Alliance criticise the lack of funding and the so called research that costs millions in tackling this serious problem which claims more than 600 lives each year (almost 3 times the number of road deaths).

They also estimated that the number of people who self harm every year is 11,000 but this is a Government figure based on hospital records and an independent source claims it could be as high as 60,000.

Voluntary organisations are struggling day to day and can't be relied on to deal with this problem on their own. In 2005, 398 people were killed on the country roads. The Government spent 30 m. on road safety - the same year 431 people took their own lives and the budget on suicide was cut from E3.6 m to E1.8 m.

The other day, while in the EU Office in Dawson Street, I picked up a book on suicide data. Each country stated their numbers and facts and yet Ireland had submitted no data.......Again......I ask why?

28% of our prison population have serious mental health problems. Dr. Kennedy - Central Mental Health Hospital is heavily involved in researching this area. There is little support however from the Mental Health Commission and an inability to interact.

Turning the Tide of Suicide Rally which was organised this week in Dublin asked the hard questions - where is the research, the education, and the government help to tackle this epidemic?

Generations of Irish people have regarded suicide as a taboo subject in the popular mind - the social and religious stigma was so heavy that cases were invariably hushed up. If an incident was discussed at all, it was generally in the language of nods and winks. I ask tonight - people like Sean Crudden who writes comprehensive articles of Indymedia on mental health issues and suicide ........why are we stuck in Ground Hog day?

At the rally this week there was a compelling need for greater transparency, honesty and co-operation in confronting this deep seated malaise. The Government now have to provide realistic funding to tackle this issue. Suicide now is a scourge throughout this island which takes a heavy toll on thousands of families and Irish society.

A case that still preys on my mind over the last few months is the case of Ciara Gibbs in Kilkenny. An article was written in the Evening Herald on the 1st of December last year. It was written by Cormac Looney. He stated that Gardai investigating the death of Ciara Gibbs now believe she may have been killed. The 16 year old suffered injuries to her head and Gardai are officially treating her death as very suspicious. Looney continued to say - the detectives originally thought that Ciara slipped in the bath and sustained head injuries............It is thought that Ciara's mother found her body in the bathroom. Injuries on Ciara's body, particularly around the head, suggested some violence according to Mr. Looney's article.

Young Ciara's body was found by her father Gerard and young brother Gearoid (14). Ciara was found on a doorway to the bedroom. Her mother Dr. Lynn Hutchenson, Psychiatrist, was found lying unconscious on the bed - the mother now remains for months in St. Patrick's private hospital, Dublin. Doctors have advised Gardai that Dr. Hutchenson, Psychiatrist and Mother of Ciara, is not to be questioned for several days.

This comment by doctors was stated in December last. It is now March and I ask a serious question. What is going on? Where is the transparency? I wrote recently in one of my articles in relation to this case - if the family lived in Finglas would the family be accorded the same decorum by the Doctors and Gardai......? I am not making any wild allegations. I am just asking where is the natural Due Process?

When I read about the Wheelock family and comments relating to the night of this young man's arrest and the head injuries sustained (while being taken in a Garda van to Store Street) - where are the medical profession in relation to this boy? He was officially in the care of the State while in Garda custory, yet he was found dead in his cell. Now people are asking serious questions and the family gaining support. Serious questions are now being asked about the rights of this deceased young man.

Tonight while we all sit in our comfortable homes, there are over 120 inmates in Mountjoy prison in urgent need of mental health assessment and treatment but these people are caged. They are classed as low priority in Irish society. Maybe if one of them was a doctor or psychiatrist, things would be a lot different.

Quotation
Thomas Merton
'Today the first and perhaps the only duty of the philosopher is to defend man against himself, to defend man against that extraordinary temptation toward inhumanity to which - almost without being aware of it - so many human beings today have yielded.

I will close by reading Merton as saying Justice, Humanity, for all people.

Kevin T. Walsh