Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government is very committed to improving the services that we provide to people with mental health difficulties, with a particular focus on reducing the number of people who very sadly take their lives. Since 2012, for example, the year after my party came to office, the budget for mental health was increased by €140 million. This year, funding for mental health will increase from €826 million to €853 million.

The recent UNICEF report shows that Ireland is fourth highest in terms of youth suicide, which is a matter of enormous concern to the Government, and to everyone in society. That is based on 2010 figures. It is important to point out that funding for suicide prevention has been increased substantially since then. In fact, it was more than doubled from €4 million when the party I lead came to office and currently stands at €11 million. Based on more recent figures from 2014 , Ireland is now below the EU average for young suicides. Of course, we want to do much better than be below average - we want to be much better than that again.

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