Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely. That is the reason the Government prioritised this area in contrast to the previous Government by introducing new initiatives and increasing expenditure on mental health services despite facing difficult budgetary challenges. We must continue to prioritise this area. Developments over the past four or five years have placed extreme pressure on many families and young people, especially young men, resulting in higher levels of stress and mental illness and an increase in the number of suicides. The Government has a significant responsibility, when many families are continuing to experience difficulty, to provide structures, support, staffing and finance in this area. We need modern initiatives to assist our understanding of suicide and suicide prevention and we must put anything learned from such initiatives into effect. We have competent Ministers to perform this task, in particular, the Ministers of State, Deputies Alex White and Kathleen Lynch. I am confident the Cabinet will continue to prioritise this area.

I would appreciate if the Deputy would forward details of the case to which he referred. While the circumstances he described appear to be unacceptable, I would like to have more background details to allow me to fully understand the position.

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