Suicide is a weird statistic. It can almost be a indicator of progress and prosperity in some respcts e.g. suicides rates are high in places like Sweden and Japan and low in places that are very deprived parts of Africa/Asia. Theres a cultural component, a chronological one, a climate one, a psychological, phsiological one etc.

I found the whole article pointless really.

Plenty of intersting things can be said about the Troubles/Irish Financial Crisis but comparing the Troubles to the austerity policies in the Republic during from 08' to 12' isn't that useful nor does it produce insight.

Why have you added "EU" to the title? Don't editorialize. "EU" doesn't even appear in the article.

Does this account for the historical reticence of coroners to record a suicide as such because of the stigma that might be heaped upon the dead person, and their surviving relatives? In the 1970s religion was a much stronger force in nearly every aspect of Irish society than it is now.

I'm inclined to believe the modern data more readily than the numbers from the troubles.

Is Ireland in such bad shape? I thought they were a big success story during the 90s and 2000s.