Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Every time a Member stands up to discuss the issue of suicide, he or she refers to an overarching authority like the Road Safety Authority. The Road Safety Authority has done an incredible job and I have no particular issue with it. However, we have a statutory overarching authority already, the National Office for Suicide Prevention, which develops policy and is now co-ordinating the activities of all the different groups that are desperate to help, a measure which should have been taken several years ago. These groups grow organically, usually from either a personal or community tragedy. However, this is different from the Road Safety Authority which can introduce laws that state that if one drives recklessly, one will receive penalty points. In this regard, I am conscious of the Members opposite. This is a criminal penalty, but we do not want to do that in the case of suicide.

We are investing enormous amounts of money in a focused way. People tell me that the Germans are addressing the issue this way and that the Scottish are addressing it that way. Our suicide prevention plan is exactly what the Germans and the Scottish have. We needed co-ordination. The one thing I discovered on taking up this job was that the one piece that was missing was co-ordination. We cannot have one agency delivering the service people want in their community in every village, but we have the service. We need to ensure people stay in their community, but we also need to co-ordinate the service and ensure, above all else, that the right message - the one message - is given. That is what the National Office for Suicide Prevention is doing. The Deputy saying he does not question my commitment is a type of backhanded insult. That does not work anymore.

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