Suicide hit an all time high in Kerry where the epidemic is 70% above the national average.
The figures, published by the Central Statistics Office this week, showed that 23 men and 4 women took their own lives. The toll is an increase on the 2011 statistic and is more than double the figure for 2008.
148 men and 148 women presented themselves to emergency departments in Kerry after deliberate self-harm in 2011.
The coroner for Kerry South, Terence Casey has been outspoken when it comes to dealing with the epidemic. Last month Casey called for a national campaign to tackle suicide in a similar approach taken by the Road Safety Authority.
Over €30million was spent on road safety awareness in 2011. The figure for suicide prevention was just €3million. In that same year, 186 people died on Irish roads, while there were 525 suicides.
"Voluntary bodies and charities are doing great work in relation to suicide but they need a lot more help from the state," said Mr Casey.
Mr. Casey said the late Donal Walsh who died from terminal cancer did more to prevent suicide amongst his peers than all of the politicians together. He is pleading with young people to think twice “before they leave such grief behind.”
“It is a crying shame that not more money is being put in to prevent suicide.”
In April, five out of the six inquests that were heard at the coroner’s Killarney quarterly court returned verdicts of suicide. All of the deceased were males, two of these aged 16, one 21, one 22 and one aged 30.
In the two previous quarterly court sittings, seven out of the eight deaths were by suicide.
