A few months before finally losing his long, painful battle with terminal cancer, Kerry teenager Donal Walsh published a moving and heartfelt open letter to his peers urging them never to even consider taking their own lives.

“I realised that I was fighting for my life for the third time in four years and this time I have no hope,” the courageous 16-year-old wrote. “Yet still I hear of young people committing suicide and I’m sorry but it makes me feel nothing but anger. I feel angry that these people choose to take their lives, to ruin their families, and to leave behind a mess that no one can clean up.”
According to Terence Casey, coroner for south and east Kerry, Walsh’s letter has had a measurable impact on the region’s suicide rates for young people.
“Donal Walsh was an extremely brave young man, an extraordinary lad,” he says. “He was dying from cancer and he appealed to his peers not to take their own lives. I think it has worked extremely well, especially here in my area, in south-east Kerry. I know that the amount of people Donal’s age who have committed suicide has dropped dramatically. In actual fact, I have no one this year under the age of 30 who has taken their own life. So I think his letter made a great impression on people his own age.”
Sadly, though, it would seem that the pendulum has simply swung away from the younger to the older generation.
“The last suicide case that I dealt with would have been about three weeks ago,” says Casey. “I had one on the 3rd of September which was a 60-plus-year-old. I have had nobody under 30 years of age this year. I’ve had one between 30 and 40, two between 40 and 50, and it goes up after that.”
That shift has been linked to the economic collapse, with people who have lost huge amounts of money deciding to give up the ghost.
“Back around 1990-98, the ages between 18 and 30 were the main suicidal rates. Now since 2007 we have had over 29 suicides in the age group of 50-plus, whereas in the same period there was only 25 under the age of 30. So it seems to be swinging to the older generation.” Casey believes that loneliness is a big factor in much of this deadly despair. “I believe that it’s isolation more than anything else,” he says. “People living in rural areas, especially single farmers and things like that, used to go to the creamery every morning and be able to meet their friends and chat about their problems and the rest of it, but they don’t go to the creamery anymore.
“They used to be able to go to the pub and have a pint and a chat with their friends, but they can’t do that anymore because of the drink-driving laws. The postman used to call to their door, but he only goes to the bottom of the laneway now. So the isolation and loneliness is a big factor in the whole thing.”
He maintains that simple human contact is far more effective in deterring people from suicide than any anti-depressant drugs.
“Well, I can’t advise on medication because I’m not a doctor,” he says, “but what I will say is that I don’t think any sort of medication will replace company. No medication will be able to replace having a chat with a neighbour and being able to spell out your fears and your feelings and the rest of it, and get someone to share the burden with you. Doctors can prescribe medication for some people, but will they even take the medication if they’re living on their own?”
What does Casey think the Irish government needs to do to reduce the number of suicides?
“I honestly believe that what we need is a campaign like the Road Safety Authority have,” he says. “We need these striking ads on television that show that suicide is a scourge on our society. I believe we need something to remind us that there is plenty of help out there all the time. I know it is something that we’ve talked about between coroners but, if you think about the ads that are there regarding suicide, there’s only one and it’s the one with the young man saying, ‘He does my head in!’, and it’s the person thinking about himself.
“That’s the only ad I know of relating to suicide, and the rate of deaths from suicide far exceeds the rate of deaths on the roads in this country. The latest stats, I think, show that in 2011 there were about 550 suicides whereas the road deaths in the same period were not over 200 – and yet we’re hearing all about safety on the roads, and what can be done but we’re hearing very little about suicide.”
Are there policies that might be put into effect at a local level?
“I honestly believe on a local level it will take involvement of a different sort. What I have been trying to spread around is the idea of getting local youth clubs and organisations to ‘adopt’ a friend. In other words, get them to say, ‘I will pick you up on such a night at such a time and I’ll bring you to the local community hall or to the local pub where you can have a drink or a sing-song or a dance, and then I’ll pick you up at 11 and I’ll drop you home’.
“If we could get a system like that in place between the farmers and the GAA clubs, even boy racers who love to drive around anyway it would prevent an awful lot of depression and suicides, in my mind.”
In Casey’s professional experience, drink and drugs usually have very little to do with the suicides he deals with in Kerry.
“I don’t think they have much influence. If you look at the toxicology results on the majority of suicides, drugs and drink have a very small part to play in it. In actual fact, an awful lot of people who take their own lives do not have any drugs or alcohol in their system at the time of death.”
Hanging is by far the most common method employed by the victims of suicide that he sees.
“Definitely hanging,” he sighs. “There’s very few gunshots. There’s very few cutting at the wrists and things like that. I’d say 90% is hanging.”
Right now, without effective government action, Casey says that he can only see the situation worsening. “Unless people stand up and talk, and unless there’s more written, and more press coverage, and a proper advertising campaign, it’s going to become more prevalent in this country. We had 550 suicides in 2011, which was an extraordinary figure, but the government seem to ignore it and not do anything about it. That’s wrong.”
You can sense that he holds little hope that the Irish government will take effective action on suicide.
“Well,” he says, “you see the Tánaiste bringing in the short-form death certificate to avoid having to use the word ‘suicide’ on it. So how are they going to have the appetite for a campaign? They’re thinking about it the wrong way altogether. They’re not putting the thought, the money or the expertise into addressing the issue of suicide.
“The Tánaiste did not consult with the coroners of this country in regards to what she did,” he continues. “I don’t know who she consulted with, but the consultation between the government and the coroners is not great. I think, in all honesty, we coroners who face suicides all the time know more about suicide than most people do.”