Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I thank Deputy Lawlor for raising this issue which, as he will be aware, is close to my heart. The Deputy has also done considerable work on suicide in his locality.

I recognise the importance of the safeTALK suicide prevention course which is one of a number of suicide prevention training programmes available through the Health Service Executive suicide prevention resource officers and partner agencies, including the Defence Forces, National Youth Council of Ireland, national Traveller suicide prevention project and RehabCare. To revert to the topic we discussed a few moments ago, we must be conscious of the need to ensure the safeTALK and ASIST programmes are culturally appropriate.

International and national evidence shows that for suicide prevention training to be effective it needs to be done in a co-ordinated and targeted manner. No single training programme is effective within communities on its own and a higher proportion of community members need to complete suicide awareness training with smaller proportions of health professionals or community gatekeepers completing suicide prevention alertness and skills programmes. The HSE's National Office for Suicide Prevention, NOSP, recommends and funds the delivery of suicide prevention training programmes across the country, including the safeTALK programme, a half-day training course which trains participants to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to people and agencies. Training in the programme was provided in 2010 in 199 workshops to some 3,600 people and continued in 2011.

The National Office for Suicide Prevention continues to work with key professional and community group, such as the Garda Síochána, Fire Service and education personnel, to ensure the most appropriate programmes are delivered across these groups. We must seriously consider making participation in the programme a compulsory element of health and safety programmes in all jobs and workplaces. Surely suicide prevention awareness is as important as insisting that employees are taught how to lift heavy items or deal with fires in the workplace. We must start to speak to the whole of government about how to make suicide prevention part and parcel of everyday training.

The National Office for Suicide Prevention is responsible for the implementation of Reach Out, our policy strategy on suicide prevention which outlines the actions that need to be taken to prevent suicide and deliberate self-harm and increase awareness of the importance of good mental health and well-being. Reach Out identified the development of a national training programme as one of the key priorities for the NOSP. Funding for suicide prevention activities is approximately €9 million in 2011. This figure includes the annual budget of €4.1 million for the National Office for Suicide Prevention and €5 million which is used to fund resource officers for suicide prevention, self-harm nurses in accident and emergency departments and the development of local suicide prevention initiatives.

Apart from the development and implementation of the national training programme, a number of suicide prevention initiatives have been progressed in recent years, including the development of mental health awareness campaigns, continued support for voluntary organisations working in the field of suicide prevention and the launch of a "tough economic times" information and training programme for the staff of organisations such as Citizens Information and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service.

I acknowledge that there is a great deal of commitment in many sectors to tackle this serious health and social issue. The Government's commitment to the development of our mental health services, in line with A Vision for Change and Reach Out, was clearly shown in the programme for Government, which provided for €35 million to be ring-fenced from within the overall health budget each year. This money will be used to develop community mental health services, to ensure early access to more appropriate services for adults and children and to implement Reach Out. This is being considered as part of the Estimates process for 2011 and future years. We must continue to work together to identify people at risk and ensure appropriate services are in place to provide the help and support needed. I have not even dealt with the issue of stigma and the reasons people do not reach out for help.

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