Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. As the House has been informed, my colleague Deputy Kathleen Lynch, whose shoes I would never attempt to step into, is unavoidably detained and I have offered to take both this matter and the subsequent matter on her behalf.

Reach Out, the national strategy for action on suicide prevention, recognises that alcohol and substance misuse are strongly related to deliberate self-harm and suicidal behaviour. The national registry of deliberate self-harm for 2011, published by the National Suicide Research Foundation, again highlights the misuse of alcohol as one of the factors associated with the higher rate of self-harm presentations on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays.

We, as a society, can no longer be tolerant or ambivalent when it comes to the pattern of alcohol consumption and the problems for which alcohol is responsible. The Government is concerned at the harm caused by the use and misuse of alcohol and, to that end, a report of the national substance misuse strategy steering group was launched in February this year. The report contains a range of recommendations to, among other things, reduce the consumption of alcohol in general. The recommendations are grouped under five pillars of supply reduction, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and research.

The main recommendations cover areas such as those correctly raised by Deputy Kelleher, namely, the price of alcohol, advertising, sponsorship, monitoring the enforcement of the provisions of the intoxicating liquor legislation and the development of early intervention guidelines for alcohol and substance use across all relevant sectors of the health and social care system. The substance misuse report is a roadmap for the future direction of policy to deal with the misuse of alcohol and an action plan is currently being developed.

The latest figures for the number of people who died by suicide last year or who have engaged in deliberate self-harm are truly disturbing. Suicide is a tragedy that we are constantly working to prevent, and we are also working to give more support to the families affected. The implementation of Reach Out, the national strategy for action on suicide prevention, is a priority for the Government and a personal priority for the Minister of State directly involved in the area, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. The National Office for Suicide Prevention, NOSP, is implementing the Reach Out actions as part of a four-way strategy which involves delivering a general population approach to mental health promotion and suicide prevention; using targeted programmes for people at high risk of suicide; delivering services to individuals who have engaged in deliberate self-harm; and providing support to families and communities bereaved by suicide. The annual budget for this work has been increased by the Government to more than €12 million.

A wide range of awareness and training programmes are available, including safeTALK and ASIST, which train participants to become more alert to the possibility of suicide in their communities. The Irish College of General Practitioners is currently developing a specific suicide prevention skills training programme which will be rolled out in the near future. The NOSP has also piloted a system under which suicide crisis assessment nurses work with emergency departments and GPs, which will be rolled out nationally this year. Up to 20 voluntary organisations part-funded by the HSE provide excellent prevention, intervention and postvention support services including telephone helplines and web-based support. The special allocation of €35 million for mental health which was announced in budget 2012 will be used primarily to further strengthen community mental health teams in both adult and children's mental health services. Some of the additional funds will also be used to advance further suicide prevention initiatives and to initiate the provision of psychological and counselling services in primary care, specifically for people with mental health problems.

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