Ireland refuses to talk about its suicide crisis. Every effort is being made to shut people up in broaching the subject, including the media. In typical Irish fashion, it’s an Irish solution to what is becoming a profound Irish problem.

It is estimated that some 400 people take their own lives every year in this country and dare it be said some of these people are women and not just men as is often highlighted.

It gives one pause to think that this amounts to more than one every day. It has become a modern-day taboo for people who believe if we do not discuss the crisis, then it doesn’t exist or it will go away.

Well, it is not going away despite attempts being made to bury the problem under a blanket of avoidance and denial.

The suicide crisis exists because of the mechanics of a rotting society of insufferable pressure leaving people with no life or no sense of community, and no healthy culture, just a lot of insidious and detrimental subcultures in lieu of it.

The live-to-work culture is just one example where bullying has been positively identified as one succinct cause driving people to take their own lives. Other causes such as peer pressure, the conformity stereotype culture, the substance abuse culture, the materialism culture, and of course last but not least the indebtedness culture of owning thousands and being crushed in the process of repayment.

Overall, Irish life has become a dreadful rat race to the top, but ironically we fall to the bottom as people give up so much for so little and ruin themselves in the process of getting there.

We do indeed have a suicide crisis as evidenced by a growing number of marches and walks, but avoidance is evidenced here again with the word ‘suicide’ omitted from T-shirts and banners as a terrible reminder of the grave trouble our society is in. The crisis is not going to go away until we live within our means in an affordable country and do away with the sickening rat-race culture.

Maurice Fitzgerald,

Shanbally, Co Cork

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In Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org