Or you may just be misinformed and he didn't lie. If you read the CSO vital statistics publication published in June 2011, as per post 48, what he said is factually correct based on the statistics published by our national statistics authority.

The Vital Statistics publication is publicly available and for anyone claiming trouble viewing the link, go to CSO - Central Statistics Office Ireland and you should have no difficulty locating it.

http://www.cso.ie/releasespublicatio...ent/vstats.pdf

suicide rate 2010 for all persons was 10.9
suicide rate 2005 for all persons was 11.6

ergo the suicide rate in 2010 was officially lower than in 2005 (height of boom) as per our statistics authority.

What it appears to me is that people in this thread are refusing to accept the figures of our national statistics authority and instead prefer to quote back what was said in the Dail.Just because some civil servant who hadn't looked at the officially published vital statistics wrote a response for the minister doesn't mean it is the new gospel. What our national statistics authority said still stands above that.

If they have an issue with our national statistics authority is putting forth, then that is a different issue. Gay Mitchell has a right to rely on what the CSO are saying. Again some people on this site consider the CSO statistics don't reflect the full picture - well take that up with the CSO, not with someone who legitimately relies on the national statistics authority as a basis for a viewpoint.

There may be a higher absolute figure in 2010 than 2005 that have committed suicide. However the figure has to be looked at in proportion to the population in the country at the time and what the Vital Statistics publication from June 2011 is saying is that in 2010 the rate was lower than in 2005.

Originally Posted by leftsoc

Of course he didn't lie, he's just not a very serious person, and not very bright. Most contributors here would know that the recorded suicides jumped 25% in the year after the crash, 2009.

It is a measure of the importance attached to mental health by right wing politicans that he did not know this. Imagine if the murder rate leaped by over a hundred in one year ? Brain dead politicians would be falling over themselves to dissect the figures and show their familiarity with the subject.

It is necessary for all believers in the flexible labour market model , to think that poverty does not cause unhappiness, depression and despair.

Because they really don't give a sh-t.

+1

But Gay's "pro-life" so that's fine.

Originally Posted by CarnivalOfAction

+1

But Gay's "pro-life" so that's fine.

wow, imagine if the rate of suicide as recorded in the Vital Statistis of our national statistics office went from 11.6 per 100,000 of population in 2005 to 10.9 per 100, 000 in 2010 and those contributing to p.ie couldn't actually understand that this meant the rate had fallen....

Originally Posted by bluefirelog

wow, imagine if the rate of suicide as recorded in the Vital Statistis of our national statistics office went from 11.6 per 100,000 of population in 2005 to 10.9 per 100, 000 in 2010 and those contributing to p.ie couldn't actually understand that this meant the rate had fallen....

This link does not work. I found the article anyway.

The figures and information below support the figures provided in the original OP. The figures for 2010, are provisional and subject to change, that's why reference to the 2009 figures only was made as an accurate statistic.

"The Appendix to the report contains an analysis of late death registrations in 2010 and of some deaths where an inquest has been held. The number of such deaths registered in 2010 was 606." source CSO

2010 has 606 outstanding deaths to be determined so the use of 2010 figures is at best erroneous.

Rates in 2005 11.6 number of death 431
Rates in 2009 11.8 number of deaths 527

= an increase as stated correctly in the original OP