Ms Catherine Brogan:

I will speak on the partnerships issue, but before doing that I will respond to Senator Coghlan. The 116123 is a designated European number so there was an assessment to see what organisation that provided emotional support could provide this service. That is why it was bestowed on the Samaritans. We look on it as a national asset. It is a European number, but it is a national asset. The Samaritans are holding that in stewardship, and it has proven itself to be extremely effective particularly to the target audiences we are trying to reach.

Regarding the GAA partnership, we launched that last year. It is growing. We became a charity partner initially. Part and parcel of what Samaritans wanted to do was to keep this as a partnership so we could target the vulnerable and at-risk in one of our key areas, young men.

We have grown that partnership in the past 12 months, with volunteer liaison officers in Samaritans branches across the country linking up with well-being officers in local GAA clubs. Information on this has gone out to all our branches. Samaritans representatives engaged in awareness-raising activities at the Leinster and Ulster finals last year and the hurling semi-finals, from which we had a huge response. It gave us an opportunity to hand out more than 15,000 wristbands and talk with people face to face during breaks in play. In addition, we are working on developing a listening scheme with GAA club coaches, which will involve our people going into those clubs and signposting people to our services.

Another initiative in which we are involved is the HSE's #littlethings campaign, under which the first point of contact given is the 116123 number. Again, the great benefit is that people do not incur a cost in contacting us, and details of the call will not appear on their bill. Of particular benefit for people who are most vulnerable is that it is possible to call the number from a pay-as-you-go telephone even if one has no credit. We are working in close partnership with the HSE on that campaign.

Key to Connecting for Life, the new national suicide prevention strategy, is the idea of everyone taking responsibility around suicide. We all have our part to play and we all can make a difference. The partnership we have with the telecommunications companies in the provision of the 116123 telephone service has proven the real value of effective partnership. As I said, discussions are ongoing with the companies and we hope to have reached agreement by September on extending the arrangement.