Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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646. To ask the Minister for Health the total budget allocated to the National Suicide Prevention Office; and the details of the spending of the budget. [2931/13]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The annual budget for suicide prevention increased in 2012 to over €12m. €7.1m is administered by the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) which includes an additional €3 million from the special allocation of €35m for mental health in 2012 and is used to fund voluntary and statutory agencies delivering services in the area of prevention, intervention, postvention and research. The remaining €5m is available regionally to fund Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention, Self Harm Liaison Nurses in Hospital Emergency Departments and local suicide prevention initiatives. A further €1m is being provided to the NOSP in 2013 (from the additional mental health funding provided in Budget 2013) bringing the total available to the Office this year to €8.1m. A special programme of measures to further advance suicide prevention in 2013 is currently being developed.

Initiatives progressed by the NOSP in 2012 include the provision of a wide range of awareness and training programmes including safeTALK and ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Training) which trains participants to become more alert to the possibility of suicide in their community, the continuation of National Awareness Campaigns, the evaluation of the SCAN (Suicide Crisis Assessment Nurse) model, the development of Guidance for Post Primary Schools on Mental Health & Suicide Prevention in association with the Department of Education and Skills (to be launched in the very near future) and the continued funding of 41 partner agencies and projects. In relation to the specific breakdown of the expenditure by NOSP in 2012, I have asked the HSE to reply to you directly on this matter.