Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)

I will begin my contribution with the following quote from an editorial in the Irish Independent of today:

Suicide remains the great unmentionable in Irish life... The biggest obstacle to reducing the number of deaths from suicide is the taboo most of us still have about discussing our mental health.

We should be extremely concerned about the figures published yesterday by the CSO which reveal an increase of 7% in the rate of suicide. The figures show that 525 people died by suicide in 2011, of whom 439 were men and 86 were women. Some 193 of those who died were under 35 years of age. There were also 65 undetermined deaths in 2011. Combining this figure with the fact that many suicides go unidentified because, for example, they involve single occupancy road crashes suggests that more than 600 people died by suicide last year.

This should be a matter of concern for anybody who values life and understands the trauma experienced by those who feel there is no way out of their crisis other than taking their own lives. They did not wish to die but they did not know how else to deal with their difficulties. The question of what people are thinking when they take their lives deserves much longer debate than is possible in this context. Extensive research is required to understand why suicide rates are so high but we can easily identify two contributory social factors, namely, the neglect of mental health services over many decades and the lack of suicide prevention programmes. Bearing in mind that up to 80% of those who died by suicide suffered from mental health difficulties, the neglect of mental health services is nothing short of scandalous.

The link between suicide and economic recession has also been well-established. Unemployment and the threat of unemployment are the leading predictors of suicide, especially among men. Those who are unemployed are between two and three times more likely to take their lives than those who are in employment. Being out of work has an especially profound effect on the young and the middle-aged.

In the budget, €35 million was allocated to develop mental health services. It is vital that the money is spent as intended because, as the Minister will be aware, in 2006 and 2007 moneys intended for mental health services were spent elsewhere by the HSE. The first step in developing mental health services is establishing community-based multidisciplinary psychiatric services. Recruitment is ongoing for 150 posts in child and adolescent psychiatry. Perhaps the Minister can inform the House when it is planned to have the 150 posts in place. A further 254 new posts are due to be created for adult psychiatry. What is the position on recruitment for these posts, when will they be in place and what is the breakdown between psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, family therapists and psychiatric nurses? Perhaps the Department of Health can supply that information. How much progress has been made on the 90 community-based multidisciplinary psychiatric teams promised across the four regions and which areas are being covered? I understand that considerable planning was carried out earlier in the year in regard to how the €35 million will be spent. I am sure these plans are available for discussion.

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