Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with Deputy Charlie McConalogue. Although this is not my maiden speech, at the time I omitted to take the opportunity to thank the people of Longford-Westmeath for putting their faith and trust in me and my three colleagues who were elected to represent the constituency four weeks ago. I put on record my sincere gratitude to the people of Longford-Westmeath for electing me to Dáil Éireann.

As a person who has actively promoted the issue of suicide awareness in my own community over the past number of years, I welcome the opportunity to make a statement on this very serious topic. I compliment the former Minister of State, John Moloney, for his commitment to this cause and Deputy Dan Neville for the work he has done to date. I also wish the new Minister of State well.

Recent evidence indicates that the number of peoplewho die by suicide has risen in the past number of years. In 2009 there were 527 registered deaths by suicide which was an increase of over 24% on 2008. In my opinion, the figure is not totally accurate as I believe a more realistic figure is higher as there are a number of deaths that are not as easily attributable to suicide, for instance, single car collisions, which are not included in the official figures. Suicide is more prevalent among males than females and again the official figures indicate that in 2007 it was in the region of four to one, increasing to 6.4 to one for males aged between 20-24 years.

While I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to treat this issue as a priority, collectively as citizens we too can play a major role in keeping this issue in the public domain. For far too long there was an awful stigma attached to people who suffered from a mental illness and people were reluctant to speak about family members who suffered from a mental illness. We have all heard of psychiatric hospitals been referred to as lunatic asylums. This is very wrong. Psychiatric illness is an illness the very same as a physical illness and which needs specialist care. The national stigma reduction campaign, See Change, should continue in 2011. The aim of See Change is to change positively social attitudes and behaviour, to inspire people to challenge their beliefs about mental illness and to be more open in their attitudes and behaviour and to encourage people in distress to seek help.

Recently in conjunction with Josephine Rigney of the HSE, I organised an ASIST, applied suicide intervention skills training, course in Mullingar. This is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first aid and is suitable for all care givers, health workers, teachers, community workers, gardaí, youth workers, volunteers and people responding to family, friends and co-workers. Most people thinking about suicide signal and share their pain and they offer us opportunities to respond. This training can help participants to be more vigilant to a situation and enables participants to respond to invitations for help. It can also increase our confidence to ask about suicide when someone's safety may be in the balance. If someone is at risk, suicide first aid prepares us to work with them to increase their immediate safety and get further help. It is a very worthwhile course and I encourage people to consider it. In my view, it should be compulsory for people who are actively working with the most vulnerable groups. Other courses are organised by the HSE through the National Office for Suicide Prevention and like the ASIST course I encourage people to participate in these courses.

Of course this issue will not be solved by people on their own and there is an urgent need for Government to increase funding to the National Office for Suicide Prevention. Last year the previous Government increased funding by €1 million. However, the funding level is still too low as it is far below what is allocated to road safety. While I do not deny the need for funding for road safety, we have seen the benefits of increased funding over the past number of years leading to a reduction in the number of deaths on the road. The fact is that more people die by suicide every year than on our roads, twice as much, if not more. It is imperative that extra funding is allocated to the National Office for Suicide Prevention.

I recently attended a presentation by Dr. Harry Barry, a general practitioner who has almost 35 years' experience as a medical doctor. He has a long-standing interest in mental health, in particular, in improving our understanding of the role of neuroscience in both the cause and the treatment of the main mental health illnesses such as major depression, anxiety disorders, addiction and suicide. He spoke about the logical and emotional brain; the stress system and its role in causing acute and chronic stress in the body and the crucial link between chronic stress and major depression. The main stressors in modern Ireland most likely to lead to suicide include unemployment, financial pressures, housing problems, alcohol or drug abuse, bullying etc.

There are three stages in brain development: the developing brain, the mature brain and the ageing brain. The developing brain is in those under 30 years of age, the category most at risk. The particular issues facing young men which put them most at risk include unemployment, loss of self esteem, bullying, drugs, sexual identity, relationship problems and alcohol misuse. The stress created by these issues is so toxic to men and so often it is tragically interlinked with alcohol.

International evidence shows that good community-based mental health services are linked with lower suicide rates, compared with traditional hospital-based treatments. Therefore, it is important to continue with the implementation of the strategy A Vision for Change. Amnesty International recommends making amendments to the Health Act 2004 and the Mental Health Act 2001 and perhaps this could be considered by this House.

Not everyone who is contemplating suicide needs psychiatric care. There needs to be centres that people can attend without fear of stigma and where they will be treated immediately and effectively. Pieta House, based in Lucan, is a good example. The Centre for the Prevention of Self-Harm or Suicide was officially opened in January 2006. In the past five years it has helped over 3,000 people and opened two outreach centres and two other centres of excellence in Dublin and Limerick.

MABS provides another very important service in this economic climate but its service is limited to dealing with personal debt rather than business debt. A service should be established to assist business people by providing them with a plan to address their debts. The Department of Social Protection should immediately introduce a scheme to assist the thousands of self-employed people who have lost their jobs and are not entitled to a social welfare payment. This is causing undue financial and mental pressures on thousands of families. The introduction of a social welfare scheme to support unemployed sole traders would help address this problem immediately.

Many groups, both voluntary and State sponsored, are providing invaluable assistance to people who are contemplating suicide. The Government should promote specific cross-departmental action on mental health. Departments with responsibility for social welfare, education, employment and housing should indicate how they will implement A Vision for Change and one person should be made responsible for all co-ordination.

See this speech in context