Eamon Scanlon (Fianna Fail)

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. As the time is pushing on, I will be brief. I am a member of the North Western Health Board which has done a study on suicide over recent years. While the figure for the number of people who take their own lives is frightening, the study showed that it may not even be an accurate figure, that there may be even more people taking their own lives in different ways which are not being recorded as suicide. In my home town four young men within a ten mile radius took their own lives before Christmas. That is frightening.

A number of voluntary groups give great support to the families of people who have taken their own lives. These families suffer greatly. I can speak on this because I have personal experience of it. It takes years to get over the trauma. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy O'Malley, to support these, either financially or in whatever way he can. No doubt these groups have saved lives.