Dáil debates

Wednesday, 10 July 2019

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Suicide Prevention

2:35 pm

Photo of Aengus Ó SnodaighAengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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In the past few weeks, and indeed years, there has been a surge of suicides in the Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard area, in particular, but also across the State as a whole. There have been more than 20 deaths by suicide, at least, in the Cherry Orchard and Ballyfermot area. Grieving communities and families who are distraught are left behind after those deaths. They are reaching out and crying out for support to help stop this epidemic. Another three young women died in the past fortnight or so. People in those communities are asking the questions we all do. How can we help? How can we stop this happening? What is causing it? Why is it that in this area in particular there is a different profile for those who have died by suicide compared to that in other areas? More than half of those who have died by suicide have been young women. They are often women with children and they are dying violent deaths.

I appeal to the Minister of State, and in particular to his colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, who has special responsibility for mental health, as well as to his other colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, who lives in the constituency to which I am referring and knows the community, or should know the community. She has responsibility for the drugs services. We need the immediate setting up of a multi-agency task force. It does not have to be a new task force. The existing drugs task force can be utilised. It needs to be resourced and funded, however. That task force needs to be able to deliver the services it is trying and struggling to deliver.

I refer to the services delivered by Ballyfermot STAR and FamiliBase in particular. Those organisations have reached out well beyond their resources to try to help with issues connected with drugs and, in this case, with suicide. Regrettably, many of those who have died by suicide are addicted to or dabbling in drugs. Some of those people have been linked to services such as Ballyfermot STAR and FamiliBase, but those organisations are grappling against the odds. They have the support of other agencies in the area but they do not have the resources to provide a full community-led response. They also do not have the resources to provide a full 24-hour service in the area or to tackle the increase in polydrug use, the re-emergence of cocaine and, scarily, the use of crack cocaine in the community. All of those addictions are feeding into this epidemic. This is not just about polydrug use or drug use because other factors play a role in the tragic decisions that these young people have taken.

The community is scarred, in mourning and reaching out. There are some simple things that can be done. It is not all about money; it is about access to resources and trying to ensure that we address this as a society but also as a community and from the bottom up. SafeTALK and STORM training should be rolled out in as many schools and sports clubs to as many people as possible. That is so we can help and play our role in identifying people in distress, assist them and, hopefully, help to prevent them from taking tragic decisions similar to those that have affected our community in recent weeks.

Photo of Andrew DoyleAndrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, has asked me to convey his sincere apologies that he could not take this Topical Issue matter as he is currently on official Government business in Finland. Before I read out the prepared note, this is an issue in which I have a personal interest. I think the Deputy knows that. When I read out the note, therefore, I agree with what is being stated and I am not just reading. It is important that I state that on a personal level. It is not the case that because we are in separate Departments that we do not have empathy with issues such as this.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Any loss of life to suicide is a tragedy, and my deepest condolences go out to the families and friends affected by suicide. Every suicide affects not just family and friends, but the community itself. It is important to ensure that strong supports are in place to help family, friends and the community to deal with this tragedy. I understand that the HSE, as recently as Monday this week, met locals in the Ballyfermot area who had expressed concern. It was agreed to provide additional support people in the area whom it was felt they needed to link in with mental health services.

Tackling suicide in all areas of Ireland is a priority for the Government. Connecting for life, CFL, is Ireland's national strategy to reduce suicide and will run until 2020. Reducing suicide requires a whole-of-Government approach, and in this regard, a cross-sectoral steering group was established to assist the National Office for Suicide Prevention, NOSP, in implementing CFL. The NOSP is part of the HSE and was specifically established to co-ordinate suicide prevention efforts around the country and to implement CFL. To support the NOSP, funding has been increased from €3.7 million in 2010 to the current level of €12 million. An additional €2.75 million was provided in 2015 for additional resource officers for suicide prevention and for priority actions under connecting for life.

Nationwide, the trend over the past number of years has been a reduction in the number of suicides. The work of the NOSP has helped to reduce that number from 495 in 2010 to 352 in 2018. The 2018 figures are provisional, and by their nature are subject to change, so they should be interpreted with caution at this time. A key part of the CFL strategy is the development of local CFL plans. All 17 of these plans have been launched, including the CFL Dublin South Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2018-2020, which was launched in February 2018.

In 2017, extensive consultation took place to develop this plan. This consultation process helped to identify key risks regarding suicide in the Dublin south area and associated service challenges. The action plan was developed in response to these identified risks and in line with the national CFL framework.

Implementation of the plan is being driven by one of three resource officers for suicide prevention across south Dublin, Kildare and west Wicklow. The plan, Connecting for Life - Dublin South, details 64 actions that are currently being implemented in the area with the aim of reducing the rate of suicide in south Dublin in line with national targets.

Throughout south Dublin there are several services targeted at the promotion of positive mental health and at addressing the needs of those experiencing mental health difficulties. These services include adult, adolescent and child specialist mental health services, suicide prevention supports and services and primary care and network services, including counselling in primary care.

2:45 pm

Photo of Aengus Ó SnodaighAengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I do not believe any of us has ownership of this issue. It is a pity that we have to come here to address it but it is has reached epidemic proportions in some of our communities. I acknowledge what the Minister of State has said about the fall in numbers. Any decrease in the number of suicides is to be welcomed. However, it may be the case that suicide is becoming more concentrated in certain areas or certain cohorts of communities. The community for which I am appealing for extra supports is that in Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard. I acknowledge that the HSE has been active this week. There have been several interventions by both the local drugs services and other services, as well as by An Garda Síochána. There have been several meetings and there will be another tomorrow night. That reflects the scale of the issue. I hope to be at the meeting in the civic centre tomorrow evening.

However, meetings by themselves can only do so much. We will not get an instantaneous answer or sort this out overnight. That is why I appealed to the Minister of State to ensure that we roll out the SafeTALK and skills training on risk, STORM, components of the Connecting for Life programme as extensively as possible. We must also start to fund some of the agencies doing this work so they can properly carry out the work they need to do. I refer in particular to those which fall under the remit of the drug and alcohol task forces, which have not seen any increase in funding sine 2008 despite facing additional workloads and a role in tackling the issue.

There is a network of active groups. I ask the Minister of State to pass on to the Ministers of State at the Department of Health, Deputies Catherine Byrne and Jim Daly, an invitation to come to the area to meet these groups. We must collectively take the approach upon which everybody agrees and work together to lift this blight from our communities.

Photo of Andrew DoyleAndrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Suicide is a challenging issue, especially where we use the phrase "black spots". The numbers have been stubbornly high. Bringing them down and building resilience are challenging tasks. The HSE is funding partner agencies in south Dublin including Candle Community Trust, Aware, BeLonG To, Mental Health Ireland, Pieta House, Samaritans Ireland and Suicide or Survive.

The resource officer for suicide prevention in the area is also involved with mental health promotion and training at local level. I do not have last year's figures to hand but in 2017, more than 1,000 individuals working or living in the south Dublin area were trained through programmes to enhance the community's capacity to respond to suicide and self-harm. They have been educated to be alert to the signals and to intervene and intercept incidences. That sounds like a bad word, but ultimately that is what we are trying to do in cases where people do not make a phone call to one of those agencies. Through these programmes people are empowered and trained to identify signals.

A range of measures is in place. There is no doubt that it is an ongoing issue which needs to be resourced. The Deputy mentioned the drug and alcohol task forces. I have been a part of one for years. It is really important that alongside other agencies and statutory bodies, they are empowered to facilitate training for people in the community to address this issue. The Ministers have been open to meeting. I cannot speak for them but the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, who lives in the area, is acutely aware of the issue and the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, has expressed a willingness to visit.