Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly. I would like to acknowledge, as does everybody in the House and throughout the country, the tremendous work Deputy Neville has done and continues to do in bringing issues relating to suicide to the attention of people.

The problem of suicide is a grave problem facing all of us. Deaths by suicide are particularly tragic. Unlike death from accident or illness, death by suicide brings with it a kind of guilt and emotional devastation for the people who knew the victim. Minor tranquilisers, including the benzodiazepines, are medicines often used to treat conditions such as anxiety and insomnia. These and other tranquilisers are prescription-controlled medicines in Ireland. Therefore, they may only be supplied on foot of a prescription issued by a medical practitioner. Mail order supply, including over the Internet, of prescription medicines, such as minor tranquillisers and benzodiazepines, is prohibited in Ireland. The supply of prescription medicines by mail order, including over the Internet, can be associated with significant health risks for patients and the public and consequently, the Irish Medicines Board works closely with the Revenue Commissioners' Customs Service to protect the public from the illegal mail order supply of medicines such as these.

The Department of Health is aware that there is increasing evidence of the inappropriate use of benzodiazepines in Ireland. Overuse of benzodiazepines is, unfortunately, an international issue and not specific to Ireland. With the HSE, the Department is currently engaged in the development of policy and the consideration of measures to improve practices regarding the use of benzodiazepines and related substances within the health system, such as the re-issue of the good practice guidelines for clinicians to prescribers, pharmacists and all relevant health professionals. The Department is also reviewing legislative measures under the misuse of drugs regulations to introduce stricter controls on benzodiazepines and related substances, such as the possible introduction of import and export licence controls and the introduction of stricter prescription-writing controls. Such measures are intended to address both the inappropriate use of benzodiazepines and related medicines in Ireland and the potential for such medicines to be used for the purposes of intentional overdose or self-harm.

Deliberate self-harm may be an impulsive act and that is why it is important to get the message out to people that unused and unwanted medications should not be left around the home and should be brought back to the pharmacy for safe disposal. Reach Out, our strategy document for action on suicide prevention, highlights the need to limit access to means and methods of self-harm and suicide. The HSE's National Office for Suicide Prevention will be working with the National Suicide Research Foundation and other relevant stakeholders in 2012 to establish a national action plan to address the issue of how the inappropriate and potentially harmful access to medication can be reduced.

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