In attendance: Jackie Hickey (General Registration Office), Regina Ward and Gerry Steadman (Department of Health), Hugh Duane (National Office for Suicide Prevention), Eileen Williamson and Dr Paul Corcoran (National Suicide Research Foundation). Deirdre O’Reilly (Irish Prison Service), Dr Suzi Lyons (National Drugs Related Deaths Index), Paul M. Crowley, Gemma Duff and Carol Anne Hennessy (CSO).
Apologies from: Kevin Gately (Gardaí), Prof. Ella Arensman (National Suicide Research Foundation), Emer O’Neill (Pieta House).
Paul Crowley welcomed everyone to the meeting, made the relevant introductions and conveyed the apologies of the non-attendants to the meeting.
The Minutes of the meeting held on the 22nd September 2017 were unanimously agreed.
There is one action outstanding from the previous meeting i.e. The Health Research Board (HRB) is to forward the specific criteria that they apply to determine that death is a result of intentional self-harm. The HRB advised that this information and methodology will be available in the summer.
Action
The CSO outlined that a letter signed by the Director General was sent to the Garda Headquarters on the 19\12\2017 requesting access to suicide data on the PULSE system. This letter was acknowledged and the CSO subsequently sent a reminder to the Commissioner’s office on the 09\04\2018. This reminder has also been acknowledged. Once CSO get access to the suicide data on the PULSE system, analysis of the data can be done.
Action
The CSO advised that the final agreed version of the Form 104 is now in use. A bulk supply of the revised Form 104 was distributed to the various Superintendents. An electronic version of the revised Form 104 was also sent to the Garda Training School in Templemore and a supply of the Form 104s was also distributed to the school. The CSO also offered to provide training in the use and completion of the Form 104 to the training staff in Templemore if required.
Superintendent Kevin Gately, the Gardaí representative on the liaison group, advised via email that their Crime Policy section have sought definitive responses to the issue surrounding the use of the Form 104 and in particular to Q.24. See extract directly below
“It has been suggested that, as the Coroners issue a verdict based on the available evidence, whether it be on the balance of probabilities or beyond reasonable doubt, that any comment by a member of An Garda Siochana that differs from the Coroners Verdict, could place that member, or the organisation, in potential conflict. For that reason, it is being suggested that Q.24 be removed from the Confidential Report insofar as it offers an opinion only and the member of An Garda Siochana completing same is not suitably qualified to offer an opinion on the manner of death”.
While the members of the liaison group fully understood the Gardaí’s position, the CSO will continue to use the Form 104 until a definitive response is received from the Gardaí and/or another source for the required information can be found. The CSO outlined to the group the importance of Q.24 in informing the final underlying cause of death code attributed by the mortality coders in the CSO. If this question is made redundant then it would appear that the Form 104 is defunct from the CSO’s perspective.
The CSO distributed copy of newspaper report titled “Statistics on suicides inaccurate, says ex-coroner”. Retired Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell stated that official statistics of the number of suicide deaths are undercounted. This concern has been raised by the CSO before with the President of the Coroners group, Eugene O’Connor. The Coroners can only establish a death being from intentional self-harm if the evidence proves beyond reasonable doubt that death was self-inflicted. Mr O’Connor was adamant that suicide deaths are not undercounted when this criteria is applied.
The CSO wrote to the President of the Coroners group on the 20 November 2017 outlining this dilemma, arising from a conflict of opinion between 2 experienced Coroners. The CSO requested the Coroners group to consider the possibility of providing the CSO with a form that would give the Coroner’s determination of a suicide death based on the balance of probabilities. To date a reply has not been received. A reminder email requesting a reply to letter of the 20 November was issued on the 23 April 2018.
Action
The CSO circulated a table of late registered suicide deaths and outlined that these tables (i.e. VSD33 and VSD34) are available on the CSO website under Statbank Tables. The CSO further advised that the number of late registered suicide deaths is rising over the last few years and in order to highlight this factor they will seek advice as to how to best proceed from their Communications Officer.
Action:
The CSO provided the meeting with details of Suicide and Undetermined deaths by Coroner district. The NSRF will carry out some analysis on the figures and the CSO will further provide NSRF with a breakdown of relevant accidental death codes by Coroner district and this data will also form part of the overall analysis.
Action:
This item was introduced by Dr Paul Corcoran. The current status of the project is:
- Ethical approval granted early April for the study
- All 3 Coroners in Cork City and County have confirmed their willingness to collaborate with the study.
- HSE in Kerry to join the group in the coming months
- Donegal and Cavan have also expressed interest in the study
The first results of the study should be available in approximately one year. The paper titled ‘Early identification of clusters of suicide and self-harm: Development of a suicide and self-harm observatory’ is attached separately for your reference.
AOB
The CSO outlined the issue that has arisen with regard to access to mortality micro data. The CSO has not approved access to mortality micro data for researchers as a legal issue has arisen with regard to the provision of mortality micro data by the CSO to third parties. The CSO is seeking clarification from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) who are in discussions with the AG’s Office. We will keep users informed of progress in the issue.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be scheduled for some time in November 2018.
Carol Anne Hennessy
CSO
20 April, 2018.