A MENTAL health campaigner is calling for urgent and decisive action to address what he has called "an unacceptable public health emergency".
Figures published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) show that there were 221 suicide deaths registered in the North in 2023. Since 2015 annual numbers of registered suicides have fluctuated, ranging from 195 in 2016 to 237 in 2021.
171 (77.4 per cent) of the 221 registered suicide deaths in 2023 were males and 50 (22.6 per cent) were females. The percentage of suicides in 2023 within the most deprived areas (28.5 per cent) was over twice that of the least deprived areas (13.1 per cent).
The Northern Ireland 2023 age-standardised rate of 13.3 suicides per 100,000 population was lower than the rate for Scotland (14.6 suicides per 100,000 population) but higher than the rate for England and Wales (11.4 suicides per 100,000).
North Belfast man Philip McTaggart lost his son Philip in 2003 after he took his own life. Ever since, Philip has dedicated his life to creating awareness in the local community about the causes and repercussions of suicide and mental health.
Today, Philip continues to promote positive mental health through his own Mind Skills training, coaching and wellbeing organisation.
Reacting to the 2023 suicide stats, Philip said: "Once again, I am urging a fully coordinated, departmental response to tackle this crisis head-on. The latest figures are deeply alarming, showing a sharp and unacceptable rise in suicide rates. The figures also do not show the number of attempted suicides.
"This is completely the wrong direction, especially given that a suicide prevention strategy has been in place for the past five years and is one that is already outdated and in desperate need of serious revision."
Philip said these latest figures "should be setting off alarm bells across the entire (NI) Executive".
"Instead of seeing a reduction in what are preventable, not inevitable, deaths, we are witnessing an escalating crisis," he added. "The devastating impact on families is immeasurable, and the ripple effect of suicide extends to an estimated 60,000 people every year. Yet, it is local communities and grassroots organisations like ourselves without proper resources or support who are left doing the real, life-saving work.
"I am again demanding that the Health Minister and Chief Medical Officer step up and treat suicide as the public health emergency that it is. The leadership required to tackle this is simply not there, and I have no confidence that those in power have what it takes to change that."
Philip said that the NI Executive must ensure that suicide prevention is embedded into the Programme for Government "alongside real action on the root causes of suicide – poverty, inequality, and discrimination."
