Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will not be opposing the Order of Business.

As the Deputy Leader may be aware, yesterday the Fianna Fáil Party launched a document, Actions Speak Louder than Words: A Structural Approach to a Societal Issue, which is a set of proposals for structural reform and resourcing of a strategy for suicide prevention. We welcome that the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, has welcomed the publication of the document, and all Members will receive it by e-mail as of today. It is my sincere wish that we could debate the document in the House. While I appreciate that we can put forward these issues in Private Members' time, in light of the non-adversarial spirit in which it was written and presented yesterday and its ministerial welcome, the Government might make time available to allow us to debate the document and its merits. Members on both sides of the House have equal concern about this matter, and equal ambition to solve it. Following seven months of work and research in putting together the existing body of work, which is available, and adding new strands to that by way of additional research, we believe we have come up with a structure that can work. The rhetoric of many of us in these Houses following instances of suicide is often empty when one considers the kind of action required to ultimately deal with this issue. We must provide the required structure and resources to the experts, who are the people who can begin to peel back the blindfold on the scourge that is the loss of life through suicide.

We have proposed that this measure would be financed, even in the depths of this recession, by ¤88 million which could be easily sought from consumers who would contribute through their purchases in off-sales of alcohol, which are, as we all know, at a historical low. A vox pop in the street would result in unanimous support for such a measure. I am not asking that we debate the document today, but I very much hope that this issue, which I know unites the House, will be debated in the coming weeks, when all of us can share our thoughts on the document and the way it can be improved, and more importantly, how quickly we can move to implement the positive recommendations within it.