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

I thank the Deputy for raising these important matters related to the mental health of young people, teenagers and adolescents, as well as the impact of the Internet, online bullying and the effects of exposure to nefarious online activities on the mental health of young people. We are very much in the process of implementing the national suicide strategy Connecting for Life which I was involved in putting together with the former Minister of State, former Deputy Kathleen Lynch. It is making a real difference. I know that it is difficult to calculate these things, but we have seen an approximate 30% reduction in suicide rates overall in Ireland in the past couple of years. In part, that is down to the additional resources given to the National Office for Suicide Prevention and additional investment in mental health services, but there are many other factors at play.

I do not know what the current status is of the particular legislation that the Deputy mentions. I do not know if we have any principled objection to it, so I will have to check up on that. I think we indicated in the past that we would support it, so I will have to check that out again and perhaps get back to the Deputy to see if we can progress it.

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