Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Normally when we come in here and talk about health it is very much on the negative side. On the positive side, CSO figures for 2016 indicated the number of suicides has reduced from 451 in 2015 to 399 in 2016. It is a welcome drop but we have a long way to go. The frightening part about the figure is that of the 399 who died as a result of suicide in 2016, 318 were men. It is an area we need to focus on. We need to do a lot of work on it to try to get the figure down again. I thank all the community groups and people working in this area because they are working effectively on bringing down the numbers. I also thank the people in the HSE and various State agencies who have worked in the area. It is something on which we need to continue to make progress over the next number of years. It had been increasing for quite a number of years. It was reduced in 2016 and hopefully that trend will carry into 2017.

The other good figure from the health statistics is that the number of teenage pregnancies has reduced from 3,087 in 2001 to 1,098 in 2016. That is a 64% decrease, which is very welcome. It is to the credit of everyone involved in the education sector. We have a lot of work to do in that area because 1,098 is the number for 2016. There are good statistics available in respect of health and much good work is being done to which we do not give credit often enough.

The area I am now working on now is orphan drugs whereby a number of people with rare diseases cannot get access to medication quickly enough. We have a system here and I tabled a Commencement matter on the issue last week. It is taking too long and too many people are affected. We need to speed the process up. I ask the Leader that we deal with the delay in the processing of applications for orphan drugs in the autumn. It is extremely important and is something we need to do.