Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his response. While he has pointed to several positive developments, the reality is that we are coming from a very low base given the historical neglect in the area of suicide prevention and mental health service provision. I welcome the firm commitment given by the Taoiseach at the People of the Year Awards last weekend that the resources of the Government will be available to develop and improve mental health services in order to save lives and support the 70,000 people each year who attempt suicide or engage in self-harm.

Will the Minister comment on reports that the level of staffing at the National Office for Suicide Prevention has been reduced? While the budget for the office is currently in the region of €4 million, the programme for Government includes a commitment to increase the level of funding. I propose that it should be increased to €10 million over the lifetime of the Government, which would require an additional €2 million from the €35 million allocated to mental health services. I refer not to additional funding which must be found from somewhere else, but to the funding that is already committed to mental health services. An allocation of €2 million per annum should be given to the Office for Suicide Prevention from this funding line to deal specifically with suicide prevention.

I take this opportunity to thank the director of the office, Mr. Geoff Day, who has announced his retirement, for his excellent work since its establishment. Suicide prevention is an important arm of health service provision within the Health Service Executive and it is important that the Office for Suicide Prevention is given additional support. The current allocation of €4 million has been totally inadequate to deal with the issue nationally.

See this speech in context