Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I compliment the technical group for putting this motion before us today, and Deputy Dan Neville for ploughing a lonely furrow on this issue for a considerable period. I engaged in a number of debates in the Seanad with Deputy Neville when we were both Senators. He has done good work in this area.

Suicide is the unpredictable killer and tragedy of our time. It contradicts the normal flow of life and death. It takes the young and apparently healthy while older people are left to grieve. It is comparable with road deaths, which also kill the young and healthy. Such unnatural deaths can and must be combatted and prevented. In 2003 there were 444 suicide deaths in this country. The national task force on suicide was established in 1998 and the Minister of State earlier spoke on the €17.5 million that has been spent since that time on suicide prevention. That amounts to €2.5 million per annum, which is not that much to spend on the killer of 444 people per annum, and this number is growing.

Ireland now has the fifth largest suicide figure of the 15 to 24 year old group in the 25 states. Suicide is not just a phenomenon in Ireland it is increasing globally. The difficulty in determining the number of suicides now and in the past is partly due to the incredible stigma and silence that surrounded suicide, which in many ways both church and State conspired to put in place. Suicide was a crime under legislation and the church refused to allow people who committed suicide to be buried in consecrated ground. That double stigma was one of the main causes of those committing suicide being shunned and of people being afraid to come forward. That residue still remains with us and it is still extremely difficult to determine precisely the number of people who have committed suicide.

Nobody knows for certain the reasons for suicide, but the fact is that suicides take place largely among younger age groups and among males. Depression, lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, being emotionally locked in and an inability to communicate are all factors. Suicide is not selfishness, as a certain Deputy previously stated in public. Men have much to learn from women about proper communication, emotional engagement, and avoiding the tension and depression that can be locked up so easily in a young person who finds it difficult to cope. Young people may not have assertiveness, confidence or skills during the traumatic teenage years to cope with the pressures and problems of life.

That being said, there is no doubt that a greater percentage of deaths from suicide take place in disadvantaged and marginalised areas such as prisons and mental hospitals. I have seen prison experiences over the years. A considerable number of people commit suicide or attempt to commit suicide because being locked up for 16 hours a day with nothing to do for most of that time is extraordinarily depressing, and few people have the coping skills required.

Every Deputy believes the greatest cluster of suicides is within his or her constituency, but in Dublin's north inner city, the combination of disadvantage, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and imprisonment has contributed enormously to the huge number of suicides that have occurred. The solution is to have a much fairer and open society with the State providing the intervention mechanisms and the resources when problems arise.

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