This is the twenty-third annual report from the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland. It is based on data collected on hospital presentations of self-harm in the Republic of Ireland in 2025. This year, the Registry reports on data from 27 hospitals: 25 Emergency Departments (EDs) including two in Children’s Health Ireland hospitals, and two Model 2 hospitals. Data were not available for four hospitals in 2025. We estimated the number of presentations and people presenting to these hospitals using data from recent years to provide national estimates in 2025. All rate calculations presented in this report are based on those estimates.

In 2025, the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland estimated that there was a total of 12,340 selfharm presentations made by 9,329 individuals. The estimated age-standardised rate of individuals presenting to hospital following self-harm in 2025 was 176 per 100,000. This is 3% lower than the rate in 2024, and 21% lower than the peak rate recorded by the Registry in 2010 (223 per 100,000). In 2025, the national female rate of self-harm was 194 per 100,000, 3% lower than 2024. The rate in 2025 marks a continuation of the decrease observed for women since 2021 and is the lowest rate recorded by the Registry for women. The male rate of self-harm in 2025 was 159 per 100,000, 2% lower than 2024. It is also the lowest rate recorded by the Registry for men.

The peak rate for women was in the 15–19-year-old age group, at 592 per 100,000. The female rate of hospital-presenting self-harm continues to be highest among 15-19 year-olds. Their rate increased by 50%, from approximately 600 per 100,000 in 2013 to almost 900 per 100,000 in 2021, however, the rate has fallen to around 600 per 100,000 since then. The peak rate for men in 2025 was among 20–24-year-olds and 25-29-year-olds at 323 and 322 per 100,000 respectively. There were 592 presentations made by residents of homeless hostels or shelters and people of no fixed abode in 2025, accounting for approximately 6% of all presentations recorded by the Registry. This This is comparable to the 6% reported in 2024 and 7% reported in 2023.

Consistent with previous years, intentional drug overdose was the most common method of selfharm, involved in almost three in five (59%) selfharm presentations in 2025. Minor tranquillisers were the most common drug type used, similar to previous years. Self-cutting was the other most common method, recorded in almost a third (32%) of presentations. Attempted hanging was involved in 8% of all self-harm presentations (13% for men, 5% for women). Attempted drowning was involved in 4% of presentations and, although rare as a method of selfharm, self-poisoning involving chemical substances was involved in 2% of presentations. Alcohol was involved in 31% of all presentations and was more often involved in presentations by men (37% vs 26% for women). In general, the type of method used in self-harm was similar to recent years.