Drowning death figures prompt safety plea
People were urged to take greater care around water today after it emerged 149 people lost their lives in drowning incidents last year.
John Leech, chief executive of Irish Water Safety (IWS), said he was concerned by the rate of drowning in 2004 which was very high in comparison with other developed nations.
Mr Leech said that while four less people lost their lives to drowning in 2004 than in the previous year more needed to be done to reduce the numbers.
“Members of the public should swim at life guarded bathing places, wear a personal floatation device and be vigilant and alert when near water and supervise children carefully,” he said.
Mr Leech said he was particularly concerned by the consistently high mortality rate as a result of suicide.
The organisation said the alarmingly high non-accidental drowning figure now exceeded the number of deaths through accidental drowning each year.
The IWS, along with the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Research at University College Dublin, is to initiate a research project on suicide through drowning to address this issue.
“We propose to conduct an epidemiological study of all causes of drowning in Ireland both in inland waterways and coastal waterways,” Mr Leech said.
“The intention is to establish possible correlates of suicidal drowning in Ireland such as demographics, access to waterways and certain features specific to a particular ’high risk’ site.”
Mr Leech said psychiatric units around the country would be mapped to measure their proximity to a volume of water such as a river, lake or the sea.
The organisation said the research would evaluate various interventions which have been put in place, with the aim of transferring successful measures to other areas of the country.
Mr Leech said research would be carried out to examine the major difference in the rates of suicide through drowning between Ireland and New Zealand, as both countries have relatively similar geographical areas and population.
In 2003, three people drowned as a result of suicide in New Zealand, while 91 died in Ireland.
Mr Leech said some of the reasons for the reduction in drowning could be attributed to a growing awareness amongst the public of the importance of water safety, the introduction of a nationwide programme in national schools and a large number of rescues.
