John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her response and that of the Health Service Executive to the number of cases of suicide here; and the numbers of same for each of the past two years and to date in 2009. [32487/09]

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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'Reach Out' – A National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention, sets out a policy framework for suicide prevention. The HSE, through the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), oversees implementation of the strategy.

Initiatives which have been progressed by the NOSP include developing and implementing national training programmes; the development of a training strategy under the direction of a Training and Development Officer; progressing the availability of self-harm services through Hospital Emergency departments; implementing recommendations arising from a review of bereavement services; dedicated suicide resource officers; the provision of funding to the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF); supporting voluntary organisations working in the field of suicide prevention and developing mental health awareness campaigns.

In addition to the €8m available to the HSE for suicide prevention initiatives, once-off funding of €1m was provided in 2009 to further develop services for those bereaved by suicide and to develop an information and awareness campaign aimed at young people. Consultations with young people were arranged under the auspices of the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to inform the campaign and a report on the outcome of this process - 'Teenage Mental Health: What helps? and What hurts?' was launched on 15th June 2009. The campaign will be launched in October.

A target to achieve a 10% reduction in suicide by 2010 has been agreed with the National Office for Suicide Prevention. Targets to reduce deliberate self-harm (DSH) have also been agreed. The aim is to reduce the incidence of repeated deliberate self-harm by 5% by 2010 and a further 5% by 2016.

Data on mortality is compiled by the Central Statistics Office and published in the Annual and Quarterly Reports on Vital Statistics. The provisional figures for deaths by suicide for the years 2007 and 2008 are 460 and 424 respectively. These figures are subject to revision as some undetermined deaths may be recorded as suicide following a coroner's inquest. Figures for 2009 are not yet available.