Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate and if we are in any way critical it is not to score points but to bring about a positive change.

Sinn Féin has identified suicide as a distinct priority requiring concerted co-operation between Government, the health service, the voluntary sector and communities. Our youth section, Ógra Shinn Féin, has campaigned on this issue along with other youth organisations. We have included suicide prevention as a key element in our health policy, Health Care in an Ireland of Equals, and many of our proposals are echoed in the report under discussion.

We propose to make suicide prevention an area of co-operation under an all-Ireland ministerial council to give the issue the strategic co-ordination it requires. Suicide does not recognise borders and people in both jurisdictions should address the issue. We also aim to frame and implement a fully resourced, comprehensive, all-Ireland suicide prevention strategy including actions to promote mental health among the general population delivered through schools, youth services, work places and the media. We propose mental health promotion actions targeting specific sections of the population incorporating diverse needs into tailored suicide prevention sub-strategies. We also propose mental health promotion and suicide prevention actions targeting groups identified as at higher risk along with actions to assist individuals identified as at risk of suicide. We propose actions to assist those bereaved through suicide and investment in further clinical and community based research on suicide prevention. We aim to develop national mental health awareness and anti-stigma campaigns and would include parasuicide, people at risk of suicide and their families and bereaved families in policy making issues.

I am a patron of a group in my area called Teenline and, like many Members, I became involved through knowing individuals and families who have suffered through suicide. In Teenline we identified that while there is sex education and drug awareness in schools, education on this issue would also be beneficial. The Minister of State mentioned an outreach campaign and I have spoken to outreach workers on this matter and it was felt that it could be helpful. I spoke to a woman whose son committed suicide, an event which led to the creation of Teenline, who went to schools and talked to young people in their classrooms. She said afterwards two children thanked her, said they had seriously considered suicide and that she had made them think. She explained the effect the suicide had on her family, friends of the family and the community as a whole.

There is an argument that bringing the issue into schools only encourages young people to consider suicide. The same might be argued about sex education and that, similarly, would be nonsense. This also goes for drug awareness. Drugs are available in most villages and towns and making people aware of the harmful effects that go with the pleasurable ones is necessary. Discussions on this issue should be taken into schools. A previous speaker referred to accident and emergency departments. I raised this yesterday at the HSE meeting for the Leinster and Dublin areas. Part of the message we are trying to deliver is that help and services are available for young people if they want them. I spoke about an outreach worker who had talked to a young person online and through Teenline and then brought this person to Tallaght Hospital. However, when this young person was brought to the hospital he had to wait along with everyone else in A&E; there was no separate room that this young suicidal person could be brought to. The health system needs to recognise that advocates trying to help suicidal young people are part of the overall service, especially if they have developed a rapport with the young person. At the meeting yesterday, the HSE recognised this was needed. When will this be put in place? I urge the Minister of State to act on this urgently.

The Minister of State referred to funding for suicide prevention programmes arising from the dormant accounts fund. This funding is welcome and it will help the groups that receive it. However, many of the groups working in this area rely primarily on voluntary contributions. We must move away from this and provide mainstream funding. There must also be appropriate training for the volunteers who will work in these services.

We must also encourage rapport between the different groups active in the area. There are groups in Belfast, Cork, and Dublin, and around the island. Best practice should be encouraged and greater rapport between the various groups would assist in this. The Minister of State referred to the number of young people who are affected. He said 11,000 young people cause themselves deliberate self-harm annually, and that Ireland has the fifth highest rate of suicide in the EU for 15-24 year-olds. The rate is even higher for men in their 20s and 30s, with men under 35 accounting for approximately 40% of all suicides.

Some weeks ago I spoke with the family of a young man who had found a suicide note which referred to bullying in school. One can imagine the impact this had on the family. They had been in touch with the school where the young man was being bullied, but no action seemed to be taken and the bullying continued. They later found the letter and the school was horrified. Schools must give an adequate response if young people are being bullied.

I look forward to the Reach Out campaign the Minister of State referred to and the actions that will flow from this debate.

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