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THE RATE OF suicide in Ireland is so high, it is vital that the media maintains high standards in responsible reporting around it, said Communications Minister Denis Naughten.
The minister made the call today at the launch of the annual report from the Office of the Press Ombudsman.
He said that while he believed there to be “high ethical standards” at work across mainstream print and digital media publications in Ireland, standards in particular on “difficult” issues such as suicide and mental health must be safeguarded.
Speaking to assembled national editors and media advisors, Naughten said:
Sadly, (suicide) is far too familiar in every parish across the country. I was just thinking coming down here today that on average someone attempts to take their own life in Ireland every nine minutes. It’s an unbelieveable statistic.
Minister Naughten first quoted this figure of one suicide attempt every nine minutes in the Dáil in 2011. At that time, he said that his research on the issue had found that 60,000 people attempt to take their lives each year.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has previously published data which showed that up to 200 out of every 100,000 Irish people (aged 15 or older) attempt suicide.
He praised the Press Council for its leadership on best practice for reporting on suicide: “The code of practice it set in relation to it and also ensuring that articles on this topic provide access and directions to people to help.”
This guidance is “significant” and all the more important given the other platforms where information is being disseminated in the digital age, noted the minister.
His comments echoed concerns voiced by the Press Council Chairman Seán Donlon at today’s report launch. Donlon referred in particular to social media giants and the difficulty of monitoring content published there.
He said that although social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube are now among “the largest and most influential entities in the world of the news business” and are widely accessed in Ireland, they are not subject to regulation or oversight.
This is in contrast to Irish broadcasters, who are regulated by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, and to press and some digital publishers (including TheJournal.ie) who are members of the Press Council.
Donlon said:
Thus they (social media platforms) can and do carry offensive, inaccurate and inappropriate Irish content as, for example, the posting of a video of a young woman clearly in distress who later took her life and the grossly inaccurate reporting of the number of suicides in Cork.
He added: “I know that Ministers share our concerns and I hope that they will work nationally and internationally to curb the irresponsible activities of these new publishers.”
Minister Naughten said that he was in contact with Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald in relation to establishing the office of a Digital Safety Commissioner.
On the advent of the fears of the impact of so-called ‘fake news’, Naughten said it would be difficult for any one country to legislate against it. The best defence, he claimed, was for media to maintain reporting standards and be a resource that the digital audience can refer to in order to check out claims they see made elsewhere on the internet.
Tongue firmly in cheek, the minister referred to a story early this year in which he was involved: “So, if Denis Naughten is involved in a bicycle accident – how bizarre that would be, but if he was – and people read it on Facebook or Twitter, that they can turn to a reliable content website and say, actually, this is an accurate story, they are covering it as well.”
He also said that he believed that “by and large, the press (in Ireland) does not have a particular bias… it is prepared to put a case out there and let people decide for themselves. If you look across the globe, we are turning into a unique country on that here.”
Press Ombudsman Peter Feeney said that “the shift to social media as the primary source of information is both a threat and an opportunity for traditional media”. The threat comes from a move of advertising revenue to major online players like Google and Facebook, but the opportunity is for traditional media to re-establish itself as a trusted source.
Releasing the outcomes of complaints brought against Irish media organisations in 2016, he praised “a noticeable trend (in) the increased willingness of editors to address complainants’ concerns at as early a stage as possible”.
Of the 261 complaints received by the Office of the Press Ombudsman last year:
Of these 23 decided by the Ombudsman, nine complaints were upheld. This is the full breakdown:
Four principles of the Code of the Press Council of Ireland were breached in 2016. Three were relating to privacy, one to fair procedures and honesty, two to truth and accuracy and six to protection of privacy of children, although four of these related to the same court case as reported in four separate publications.
Read the full report from the Press Council and Press Ombudsman here>
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So Minister Naughten if some one is attempting to take their own life every 9 minutes what exactly are you and your government doing about it?
@Kerry Blake: Nothing. Pieta House are doing all the work. And admirably so. TFF Pieta House
Being poor in the countryside is far worse pressure than being in towns and cities where you usually live along with poor peers & so have less stress trying to pretend your coping & in the countryside u have to pay school “voluntry” contributions etc as to not embarrass your kids and yourself among your better off neighbours & thus doing without proper food & clothes for a while. Plus the poor urban school would also have “disavantaged” gov status & more gov funding. Snobby society needs to stop putting so much pressure on everyone to be perfect in every aspect of life. Exams, relationships, housing, careers & car types etc. If people are allowed live their life in their way u will see a huge suicide reduction.
@abcyz: sadly much of this pressure is self inflicted
@George Beckett: No it is snobby peer pressure pure and simple. Snobby people judging and blaming their poorer less well off neighbours
@Kerry Blake: Nothing Kerry they are too busy holding meetings about the dress code and prayers in the Dail …anything other than what they are paid to do.
@abcyz: you are right with that too. I guess we have to control the controllables and ignore them. Easier said than done however.
@Kerry Blake: They’re closing down beds for child mental health. That’s the government’s response to this epidemic. If Leo becomes taoiseach, we can only expect it to get much worse
@Kerry Blake: raise more taxes make life more unbearable make more unreachable deadlines out the blue for people to despair over take their homes sell to vulture funds leave the unemployed with no way out make the working poor skint so they can either eat or pay some bills not all because is unattainable. Cause more despair isn’t that what ALL plastic Tory governments do.
Ah yeah and help the rich who have no real worries three meals a day and credit and a brand new car to look good in their business exploiting the poor so that the so call recovery seem to be real .
@George Beckett: no it is not self inflicted to fear the bills on the post that you cannot make it and the deadlines you cannot afford is not self inflicted
Massive issue with suicide in Ireland? Solution- close off 50% of the beds and don’t recruit psychiatric nursing positions for adolescent mental health services. Very fcuking Irish that is
Maybe the minister would look at funding the systems that help his faux cause. This is a serious matter, one that all of us folk have been living ( we’ve nearly all seen a suicide). We don’t need a minister to reiterate what we have been through. We need a minister that will be able to offer hope, a future, a reason.
And FG’s policies are behind many of those suicides. They couldn’t care less about ordinary people who have been thrown under a bus to protect wealthy & influential people who are their friends / associates & backers.
@Setrakian: absolutely. I’ve seen many friends loosing everything I seen people all ages worry about everyday I live in fear myself is all Bills and worry . Any simple thing become a massive problem like fix the car to nct if it doesn’t pass you stress extremely as neither you could afford this extra bill and now you didn’t pay your mortgage and there is other three bills coming and if you get stopped they take your car and you can’t afford another and without it you can’t work and you will lose your home for not paying by then you can’t afford food put the money into parts in between getting it fixed you worry about getting it taken away by police . Rich people hasn’t a clue what that is like . That’s just an example I seen happen 3 people this year
Self harm and completed suicide are two completely different things. The minister is demonstrating the irresponsibility he espouses to avoid.
@Ian Moloney: Self harm is a cry for help. Suicide is someone who is beyond all reasoning with…..
@Kerry Blake: only in a few cases. If help is available people can change their mind.
The important message here is if you are reading this message and feeling suicidal please seek help.
There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Google how did it feel to commit suicide on Internet forums and you will see how thankful those people are that they failed.
There is no shame in seeking help.
It rips families apart, with knock on effects on the following generation. I know from experience sadly.
That is an incredibly high number. Quite shocking. How are these statistic gathered? If accurate this is actually the greatest crisis the country is facing.
That’s right minister, our suicide rates (especially among young people) are among the highest in Europe. Never mind reporting, what is YOUR government going to do about it? Not enough Jigsaw type projects. No funding to implement whole school approaches to youth mental health and suicide prevention in schools. Disgraceful lack of Children & Adolescent Mental Health services and beds. That is YOUR responsibility. Saying you can’t recruit staff without paying them more is not good enough.
Do your job and ensure that our children and young people have the services they need to support their mental health and help them when they are suffering from mental health difficulties. It is a national tragedy and shameful that are statistics are so appalling. You must do whatever it takes to change it.
Can we please stop using the term ‘committed suicide’…it is no longer a crime in this country, thankfully…we seem to be so caught up on being PC about everything except this…when in fact it is quite important to families…
Mr Naughten seems more concerned with the perception of information around the issues, than the addressing of the issues themselves. Just another talking head political prop, suggesting the blame for uploaded material is with the chosen platform, not the uploader & the particular incident he referred to can hardly be said to be that. Dail privilege will still be applicable though so the only concerns there are with “fake news” is from the media sources that propagate it
Cant comment on seanie. Comment on next one up. How can i also get a slice of the taxpayer cake.
Who owns this wknr ok a news site
Defence Forces have a known suicide problem since an “independent third party” study in 2005 showed a higher than expected suicide rate. So the military authorities are aware of the problem as is the Department of Defence.
So imagine the surprise when, in a response to a Parliamentary Question by Aengus O Snodaigh, the Minister for Defence Paul Kehoe admitted the Defence Forces DON’T BOTHER keeping suicide statistics.
So much more needs to be done honestly it goes so much deeper than organisations as someone who suffered from suicidal ideation a lot we need to provide people with the tools of self awareness
Talk therapy , meditation reiki get successful survivors involved who have made their way out of it. I don’t see a lot to praise with current system I’m sorry to say.
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