This is the eleventh annual report from the National Registry of Deliberate Self Harm. It is based on data collected on persons presenting to hospital emergency departments as a result of deliberate self-harm in 2012 in the Republic of Ireland. The Registry had near complete coverage of the country’s hospitals for the period 2002-2005 and, since 2006, all general hospital and paediatric hospital emergency departments in the Republic of Ireland have contributed data to the Registry.

In 2012, the Registry recorded 12,010 presentations to hospital due to deliberate selfharm nationally, involving 9,483 individuals. Taking the population into account, the age-standardised rate of individuals presenting to hospital following deliberate self-harm in 2012 was 211 per 100,000, a 2% decrease on the rate in 2011. This decrease follows a 4% decrease in the rate of persons presenting to hospital following deliberate selfharm in Ireland from 2010 to 2011. However, the rate in 2012 was still 12% higher than that in 2007.