Mary White (Fianna Fail)

It is an excellent partnership.

It is also opportune to congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy John Maloney, on receiving €47 million in the budget for the Vision for Change programme. I have called a number of times for him to attend a discussion on suicide. This is a serious issue for many people who are unemployed who have never suffered from mental illness and those who feel insecure about their jobs. I tried in vain last week to raise the issue of widowhood. A recent study in the European Journal of Public Health found that widows and widowers were twice as likely to die by suicide. Senator Corrigan commented that it would be good for the Minister of State to listen to the practical ideas we could come up with. One such idea could be implemented overnight, that community and public health nurses call to people who have been recently bereaved to assess their mental health and offer them support.