Suicide in Ireland: The Influence of Alcohol and Unemployment

In this paper we model the behaviour of the Irish suicide rate over the period 1968-2009 using the unemployment rate and the level of alcohol consumption as explanatory variables. It is found that these variables have significant positive effects on suicide mortality in several demographic groups. Alcohol consumption is a significant influence on the male suicide rate up to age 64. Its influence on the female suicide rate is not as well-established, although there is evidence that it is important in the 15-24 and 25-34 age groups. The unemployment rate is also a significant influence on the male suicide rate in the younger age groups. The behaviour of suicide rates among males aged 55 and over and females aged 25 and over is largely unaccounted for by our model. These broad conclusions hold when account is taken of a structural break in the 1980s, with the response to unemployment being greater in the earlier period and that to alcohol greater in the later period. The findings suggest that higher alcohol consumption played a major role in the increase in suicide mortality among young Irish males between the late 1960s and the end of the century. In the early twenty first century a combination of falling alcohol consumption and low unemployment led to a marked reduction in suicide rates, although there is some evidence that the suicide rate is being increasingly under-reported in recent years. The recent rise in the suicide rate may be attributed to the sharp increase in unemployment, especially among males, but it has been moderated by the continuing fall in alcohol consumption. Some policy implications of the findings are discussed.Suicide, Alcohol, Unemployment, Lederman Hypothesis

Mental illness in Ireland 1750 - 2002: reflections on the rise and fall of institutional care / Dermot Walsh and Antoinette Daly

HRB / 200

Activities of Irish psychiatric services 2002 / Antoinette Daly, Dermot Walsh

HRB / 200

Spiropyran modified microfluidic chip channels for photonically controlled sensor array detection of metal ions

Microfluidic chips are particularly attractive for analytical purposes because they provide a convenient small platform for rapid analysis and detection.1 Furthermore, spiropyrans dyes can be used as photonically controlled, self-indicating molecular recognition agents for the fabrication of sensors.2 Here, we show how through integrating the beneficial characteristics of microfluidic devices and spiropyrans dyes, a simple and very innovative chip for on-line metal ion sensor array can be realised. The chip (4x3cm) consists of four independent 180m depth, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channels. 1’-(3-Carboxypropyl)-3,3’-dimethyl-6-nitrospiro-[2H-1]-benzopyran-2,2’-indoline is covalently immobilised on the ozone plasma activated PDMS microchannel surfaces. Upon exposure to UV light, the transparent PDMS channels change to light purple colour because the spiropyran molecules of the surface undergo a heterocyclic ring cleavage that result in the formation of the highly conjugated merocyanine form. When stock solutions of several ion metals (Ca2+,Zn2+,Hg2+,Cu2+) are pumped independently through the four channels, different optical responses were observed for each metal. 1-L.Basabe-Desmonts et al. Anal.Bioanal.Chem.(2008)390:307–315. 2-R.J.Byrne et al. J.Mat.Chem.(2006)16:1332-1337

Psychiatric day care: an underused option? The purposes and functions of psychiatric day hospitals and day centres: a study in two health boards / by Tara Hickey, Rosalyn Moran and Dermot Walsh

HRB / 200

Spiropyran modified PDMS micro-fluidic chip device for photonically controlled sensor array detection of metal ions

Micro‐fluidic chips are particularly attractive in biological and life sciences for analytical purposes because they provide a convenient small platform for rapid analysis and detection [1]. Using micro‐fluidic devices for the determination of ions emerges as a potential solution to some of the challenges not overtaken by conventional techniques e.g. atomic absorption, inductively‐coupled plasma‐optical emission, mass spectrometry and ion‐selective electrodes [2]. For example, these devices can integrate complex sample handling processes, calibration, and detection steps into a compact, portable system. Moreover they require small sample volumes (low μl or nl), consume little power, and are easily constructed for multi‐analyte detection, either through multiple parallel fluidic architectures or by using arrays of detection elements. Organic photochromic compounds like spiropyrans are particularly interesting targets for the development of new approaches to sensing since they offer new routes to multi‐functional materials that take advantage of their photo‐reversible interconversion between two thermodynamically stable states (a spiropyran (SP) form, and a merocyanine (MC) form), which have dramatically different charge, polarity and molecular conformations. Furthermore, they can be easily incorporated into membranes for improved robustness and ease of handling [3], but from our perspective, most interesting of all, they have metal ion‐binding and molecular recognition properties which are only manifested by the MC form. Based on the coordinationinduced photochromism characteristic of the MC form, spiropyrans have been employed as molecular probes for metal ions and organic molecules [4]. In this abstract, we show how through integrating the beneficial characteristics of micro‐fluidic devices and spiropyrans photoswitches, a simple and very innovative chip configured as an on‐line metal ion sensor array can be realised (Figure 1). The micro‐fluidic device consists of five independent 94 μm depth, 150 μm width channels fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane. The spiropyran 1’‐(3‐carboxypropyl)‐3,3’‐dimethyl‐6‐nitrospiro‐1‐benzopyran‐2,2’‐indoline (SP‐COOH) is immobilised by physical adsorption directly on ozone plasma activated PDMS micro‐channel walls. When the colourless, inactive, spiropyran coating absorbs UV light it switches to the highly coloured merocyanine form (MC‐COOH), which also has an active binding site for certain metal ions. Therefore metal ion uptake can be triggered using UV light and subsequently reversed on demand by shining white light on the coloured complex, which regenerates the inactive spiropyran form, and releases the metal ion. When stock solutions of several metal ions (Ca2+, Zn2+, Hg2+, Cu2+, Co2+) are pumped independently through the five channels, different optical responses were observed for each metal (Figure 2), (i.e. complex formation with metal ions is associated with characteristic shifts in the visible spectrum), and the platform can therefore be regarded as a micro‐structured device for online multi‐component monitoring of metal cations

The European Arrest Warrant in the Prosecution of Extraterritorial Offences: the strange case of the Irish murder, the French victim and the English suspect

Surprising as it may seem, the European arrest warrant (EAW) can be used by one State to take over a domestic prosecution from another State, even though the crime, the accused, the victim and all the primary evidence were located in the latter State and the competent authorities of that State have already decided that there is no basis for prosecution. Focusing on the remarkable facts of the Bailey case, this article critically examines how that bizarre situation is facilitated by the EAW Framework Decision and Ireland’s implementing legislation. It finds that that the punitive criminal law enforcement demands of the EU’s area of freedom, security and justice are prioritised over the due process norms, human rights standards and internal checks and balances of domestic criminal process. The result is that the EAW can be used by prosecutors to expose the accused to a punitive, hybridised, criminal procedure lacking in normative coherence and democratic legitimacy. The article concludes that there is an urgent need to rethink the mutual responsibilities of Member States in the EAW regime

Adapting the Police Authority Concept to a Centralised National Police Service: Appearance over Substance in the Republic of Ireland?

The Republic of Ireland has been convulsed by a series of police corruption scandals over the past fifteen years and they show no sign of abating. In 2015, in an attempt to stem the drain in public confidence in the Garda and the administration of justice generally, the government established a Policing Authority which it presented as “the most important single change in the governance of the Garda Síochána in its history”. This article critically examines whether the new Irish Policing Authority can be interpreted as a successful adaptation of the traditional police authority concept to a parliamentary democracy policed by a single, national body. In particular, it considers whether it is equipped to shield the Garda and policing from the influence of partisan political and institutional interests, while at the same time deliver transparent democratic scrutiny of the Garda and policing on behalf of all sections of the community. It concludes that, contrary to the superficial impression generated by the government at the time, the Authority does not represent a fundamentally new departure in the democratic scrutiny of the policing in Ireland. While it opens up a useful channel for input from outside the central executive and parliament, it will do little to change the established democratic power relations in policing, or to deliver greater transparency in respect of policing policies, practices and accountability. Nor can it be interpreted as a successful adaptation of the police authority concept to a parliamentary democracy policed by a single national body under central government control