Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)

I really appreciate the Deputy’s considered and genuine comments on this. I mentioned the network of crisis resolution teams. These are teams of mental health professionals who work out of hours to meet people in mental health crisis and provide rapid assessment and intensive intervention in the community in calm environments known as solace cafés.

Connecting for Life, our national suicide reduction strategy, came to an end at the end of 2024. Work on Ireland’s new suicide reduction policy is being swiftly progressed by the Department and an extensive public consultation was recently completed.

I have heard what the Deputy said. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has said that making sure our policies are informed by lived and living experience is really important. The consultation I spoke about had a huge response, almost 1,900, to an online survey and hundreds of people went online and had in-person consultations to share their stories. I hear very clearly what the Deputy says when he speaks of the risks especially for young men.

In that context, it is not quite the same but related, the Minister of State will also visit Exchange House, the Irish National Traveller Service, tomorrow morning to listen to the experiences of young Travellers in relation to mental health and suicide. Earlier I mentioned that I visited Tipperary ETB yesterday. When I was leaving, I was given three books. All three were written by Travellers in one way or another. One in particular was about the experience of young Traveller men and suicide. It was a book of poetry and I read it on my way back. It was one of the most powerful things I have read in a long time because it talked about the raw pain and the shocking impact of suicide in all communities but in this case especially in the Traveller community. She was especially referring to young men.

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