Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on suicide. I carefully chose this subject for my maiden speech in the Dáil because it has a huge impact on many families. I am sure many of my colleagues have had personal contact with families that suffered from suicide.

I thank the electorate of Waterford for putting their trust in me to represent them in Dáil Éireann. I will do my utmost to promote the best interests of Waterford and the country in this House at every opportunity I get. I congratulate the Taoiseach and his Cabinet, as well as the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who has a deep interest in mental health issues, and wish them the very best as they confront the serious economic challenges we face as a country. We are all behind them and we are ready to assist and support them in their work.

When discussing suicide, we need to take a careful look in the mirror in terms of how we developed as a society over the past several decades. When I was growing up in the 1970s, my mother was a public health nurse and I recall many occasions when people from our community knocked on our door to seek my mother's help. They were looking for a listening ear rather than the medical assistance for which my mother was qualified because they were often suffering emotional turmoil from crises such as family break-ups. When public health nurses, teachers, doctors and gardaí lived amongst the community, they offered strong and accessible leadership. We no longer see that in our society.

We can only imagine how desperate people feel when they reach the point of suicide. I have lost close friends to suicide and I have often asked myself what I would do if I had been around at that moment. Would things have been different if my friends had access to a listening ear? Today, many people's doors are closed to their neighbours and residents of many housing estates do not know who lives two or three doors away from them. That is the result of the society that developed during the Celtic tiger years.

I recognise we need services but listening must start in our own families and communities. We need to be there for one another. Several speakers made an important point about the importance of networks in our communities, whether GAA clubs, the ICA or Muintir na Tíre.

The loss of six good friends to suicide was the spur for me and others in my community to take action. I was very involved in the local GAA club and with the co-operation of the HSE and other suicide experts we developed a ten week course to teach community leaders to identify and assist those at risk. The course helped us to understand that it is not always necessary to seek help from a service or agency when people are in need. All of us would like a 24/7 service but a listening ear is most important when people reach that point of desperation.

I commend Deputy Neville for putting the issue of suicide onto the political agenda. However, few of the recommendations from the 2009 report of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, with which he was closely involved, have been implemented. Our challenge in Government is finding ways of implementing these recommendations in order to assist those who are desperate enough to take their lives. Every politician in communities across the country, whether urban or rural, bears a responsibility for assisting these individuals. I welcome the Minister of State's contribution to the debate and I look forward to supporting her in addressing the challenges.

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