Mary White (Fianna Fail)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Seanad Public Consultation Committee and to listen to Professors Rose Anne Kenny and Gerard Quinn. People in England and Ireland were traumatised over the weekend by the suicide of Gary Speed and I suggest that rather than have the debate in the Seanad on the issue of suicide, which the Leader very kindly arranged, we discuss it in the consultation committee as soon as possible.

I spent a year in my office writing my document, What We Can Do About Suicide in the New Ireland. Like many Senators who were shocked by the publication of the traumatic ways in which people die by suicide, I had to come to terms with the devastation suicide causes families, relations and society when writing this document. This issue must be dealt with urgently. In my document I said hanging was the most commonly used method of suicide for all age groups in the total population and that within the male population it accounted for 55%, rising to 69% among males aged 15 to 24.

There are probably very few of us in this Chamber who do not know of somebody who has died by suicide. It would be a great help to the people if they saw we were airing this issue. Many people want to keep it under the radar, which is part of the problem.

There is help out there. All of us can help people. If one has empathy and emotional intelligence, sometimes one can help people who are going through very serious depression. The parents of many who died by suicide told me that doctors told them their children would be all right and would get over it. General practitioners in this country are not trained to identify serious depression and are not up-to-date on the proper medication to prescribe for depression.

It is my pleasure to support Senator Paschal Mooney's amendment to the Order of Business.