Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I suggest that the concern expressed earlier by the Taoiseach for the young men and women of Ireland is belied by the grim reality facing young people in this country as a result of the austerity cuts and unemployment that are resulting from this Government's policies. This grim reality was revealed in the recently published report of the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland and the National Office for Suicide Prevention which reveals the appalling fact that 165 young people in the South of Ireland took their own lives last year and that the suicide rate among young people in Ireland is one of the highest in Europe. That report linked this directly to recession and unemployment. It also noted that the countries with the highest increases in suicide were Greece, with a 17% increase, and Ireland, with a 13% increase. I put it to the Taoiseach that these facts speak for themselves.

The austerity policies being pursued by this Government and the troika are resulting in despair and hopelessness among many young people, leading directly to this shocking increase in suicide. Is there not a direct connection between young nurses being asked to work for 20% less than nurses who qualified a few years ago, young teachers being asked to work for 30% less than teachers who qualified a few years ago, young junior doctors, a number of whom committed suicide last year, being asked to work unsafe hours in our hospitals, cuts in guidance counsellors for young people when early intervention is so vital to protect them from despair and hopelessness and chronic unemployment and emigration, which disproportionately affect our young people?

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