In attendance: Bernadette Smith (General Registration Office), Deirdre O’Reilly (Irish Prison Services), Suzi Lyons (Health Research Board), Colm Desmond (Department of Health), Hugh Duane (National Office for Suicide Prevention), Paul M. Crowley (CSO), Gemma Duff (CSO), Carol Anne Hennessy (CSO), Ella Arensman (University College Cork/National Suicide Research Foundation/), Eileen Williamson (National Suicide Research Foundation).
Apologies from: Dr Myra Cullinane (Dublin City and County Coroner), Sara Parsons (Garda Commissioner’s Office), Gemma Cox (National Office for Suicide Prevention).
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 October 7th 2016 were unanimously agreed.
Following the meeting, Dr Myra Cullinane, Dublin City and County Coroner requested an amendment be made to the Minutes:
The Minutes (Bullet Point 6, Actions arising from the Meeting of June 23rd 2016) state: ‘Coroners agreed to amend the Coroner’s Certificate to include verdict of Open, Accidental, Suicidal or Homicidal’.
Dr Cullinane requested that this sentence be changed to ‘The Coroners agreed to consult with Civil Registration to legislate to change the Coroner’s Certificate to include a verdict (not necessarily limited to those in the Minutes)’.
Questions 2, 5, 13, 16 and 17 on Form 104 had been amended by Ms Carol Anne Hennessy in line with the discussions and recommendations of the previous meeting. The revised draft of Form 104 had been circulated to all members in advance of the meeting as an accompanying document to the Agenda.
The amendments to Questions 2, 5, and 13 were accepted.
There was a wide ranging discussion in relation to Questions 16 and 17.
It was agreed that information beneficial to the accurate coding of the cause of death would be elicited if Question 16 were to have two parts to read as follows:
a) Is there evidence of the deceased being intoxicated with alcohol at the time of death?
b) Is there evidence of the deceased being alcohol dependent?
It was further agreed to move the sub question in relation to drugs from Question 16 to a separate Question 17.
It was agreed that Question 17 be reworded and have three parts namely:
a) Is there evidence of the deceased misusing drugs at the time of death?
b) Is there evidence of the deceased being drug dependent?
c) Please state type of drug(s).
It was agreed to remove the words ‘adjournment of’ from the last sentence of the explanatory preamble on Page 1 of Form 104. The sentence now reads ‘It should be forwarded via the relevant Garda Inspector to the Director General, Central Statistics Office, Vital Statistics Section, Skehard Road, Cork on the completion of the inquest.
Professor Ella Arensman informed the meeting that, in December 2015, the Health Research Board had provided funding for a five-year project entitled Individual and Area Level Determinants of Self-Harm and Suicide in Ireland: Enhancing Prediction, Risk Assessment and Management of Self-Harm by Health Services, one arm of which will involve the early identification of clusters of self-harm and suicide by the development of a pulse system. A description of this arm of the study had been forwarded as an accompanying document to the Agenda.
The possibility of confusion with regard to the term ‘pulse system’ was noted due to the existence of the existing Garda Pulse System.
For the information of the members of the group, Professor Ella Arensman tabled a paper by the NSRF, based on data from the Suicide Support and Information System, which had been published in PLOS One in November 2016. The paper is entitled Suicide among Young People and Adults in Ireland: Method Characteristics, Toxicological Analysis and Substance Abuse Histories Compared.
Mr Colm Desmond praised the work of the Liaison Group and suggested that its work might be brought to the attention of the Connecting for Life Steering Group in due course, possibly by way of a presentation. He undertook to highlight the outputs of the group at the next Connecting for Life Steering Group.
It was decided that the frequency of meetings henceforth be two per year with the possibility of an additional meeting if needed.
There being no further business, the meeting ended at 1.00pm.
