Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

An OECD study in 2002 placed Ireland second in the world's league table of people under 25 taking their own lives. As the motion states, it is the most common cause of death among young people between the ages of 15 and 24. Ireland has the highest suicide rate in the EU for this age group. The number of people killed on the roads has often been described as a national emergency, but suicide rates far exceed road deaths. The suicide rate is a significant social problem which must be addressed by public representatives and service providers in a concentrated and co-ordinated way.

The motion calls on the Government to implement the recommendations of the 1998 task force on suicide. The fact that the report contained 86 recommendations shows the complexity of this issue. While mental illness is the single biggest factor involved, there is no common cause of suicide. Two things strike one on looking at the statistics. First, the concentration of suicide among young boys and young men is remarkably high, which is disturbing. Second, while there are common factors among this age group the circumstances, personal and social issues of the victims are many and varied. What is clear is that social factors play a huge role in many cases. For many young people, unemployment, alcoholism, physical and sexual abuse and relationship breakdown are factors which have been shown to contribute to this tragedy.

It has been noted that suicide rates tend to be higher outside the Dublin area. Various theories have been advanced to explain this but the most plausible one is that while services for people in need of counselling or those experiencing crises in their lives are thin on the ground in Dublin, they are more accessible there than in other parts of the country. Surely this shows the stark need for better and more accessible services.

The phenomenon of copycat or cluster suicides has been recognised. This is where one tragedy leads directly to others within a group of young people. I am aware of a recent example of this. Only last week, relatives bereaved by the devastating legacy of suicide held a protest outside a health trust meeting in west Belfast to highlight the alarming rise in suicide incidents. These families stated that the problem has become increasingly severe in recent months and pleaded with health officials to provide support for this crisis. According to local community workers, at least 15 people have taken their own lives in north and west Belfast in the past three months. Support organisations have been inundated with calls from frightened families requesting further information, support and referrals.

One of the latest victims is young Stephen McComb who was only 19 years of age when he took his life on Tuesday, 26 April. His loss is the latest tragedy for the McComb family who have endured a series of terrible and traumatic deaths in recent years. Stephen's 15 year old cousin, Debbie McComb, was struck and killed by so-called joyriders as she crossed the Springfield Road in west Belfast in March 2000. In May of last year, Debbie's grieving 19 year old brother, Michael, took his own life.

His 18 year old girlfriend, Fiona Barnes, also died at her own hands, soon after the burial. In a statement last week, members of the devastated family said they were suffering terrible and inexplicable agony. For this community, it is another tragic loss of life, the statement said, and they prayed that Stephen's passing could, in some way, be a source of benefit to others "in that it will finally force a meaningful response to deal with the crisis of self-harm".

North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust has been repeatedly criticised for not tackling the issue of self-harm and suicide in an effective way. Again, we can mirror that with criticism of the services here. Last week, many of the bereaved families turned up at the trust's monthly meeting to highlight their demands. The Lenadoon Community Forum, west Belfast, estimated that there have been at least 15 suicides in the past three months in north and west Belfast. These are only the cases that are known about. The forum runs a local community counselling project and before Christmas there were 100 clients coming in each week, about 80% of whom were referred by general practitioners and psychiatric nurses. This project has lost three of its workers due to cutbacks in funding.

North and south of this island, mental health services and suicide prevention awareness programmes are being disgracefully neglected and underfunded. Gerry Adams, MP for west Belfast, in response to the problem, said:

If suicide is a national disaster in Ireland we urgently need a national disaster plan. That must be a priority. The health Departments in Belfast and Dublin must begin to realise that the public want urgent strategic action on suicide prevention.

I echo that call tonight. I have spoken about Stephen McComb. From my own experience, I know of the case of Darren Bolger in my area, a 17 year old who committed suicide. There were other young people in the Kilnamanagh area who went down the same route. The Bolger family and a group of friends have come together to set up an action programme, Team Line. Young people can ring the team line and possibly speak to someone their own age who has been through a trauma, and I hope that will help. This initiative has brought that community together. Supports have been put in place. The group has premises and so forth. If young people find themselves in those circumstances, there are places they can go and people whom they can contact. I appeal to them to contact the relevant services. There are services in Cork and other centres as well.

The other night in Jobstown another elected representative and I attended a meeting of 60 people. The stories were all similar, all the people were grieving and looking for supports, trying to move beyond their tragedies. A friend of mine killed himself last year. Were it not for the work that he and others in that community did for me, I would not be in Leinster House. He was coming around to me that morning. I spoke at his funeral and we discussed the "what ifs", what if one had done this or that. One of the messages to emerge from that meeting with the local people was that the "what ifs" need to be put in the grave with the person who has killed himself or herself. There is no understanding what has happened. Clearly people need help.

My friend who killed himself had tried to commit suicide the week before. He would not take a tablet if his life depended on it. However, he took tablets and drink on this occasion, ended up in the local hospital and was released, for some strange reason, the next day. There were no resources or back-up services. His family tried to keep him in the house and so on. We are still suffering and trying to live with that grief. His wife and family have to live with it.

I urge the Government to support this motion. The point must be made that the problem can effectively be addressed. Suicide, of course, can never be completely eliminated, but experience in other countries has shown that with proper planning, resources and services, and determination on the part of policy makers, lives can be changed and many families spared the grief of the death of a loved one.

See this speech in context