Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health the measures he is putting in place to tackle suicide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13867/13]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health the action he is taking to reduce the incidence of suicide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13857/13]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 45 and 95 together.

Suicide is a tragedy that we are constantly working to prevent and also working to give more support to the families affected. Dealing with the current high levels of suicide and deliberate self harm is a priority for this Government. Reach Out our National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention makes a number of recommendations in relation to fast track referrals to community-based mental health services, effective response to deliberate self harm, training, stigma reduction, etc. Since the launch of Reach Out and the establishment of the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), there has been a significant amount of cross-sectoral working which has resulted in considerable advances in suicide prevention. The NOSP has implemented many of the action areas engaging a strategic approach in four key areas - delivering a general population approach to mental health promotion and suicide prevention; using targeted programmes for people at high risk of suicide; delivering services to individuals who have engaged in deliberate self harm and providing support to families and communities bereaved by suicide; and commissioning research into suicidal behaviour.

Earlier this year, the NOSP established an Expert Group to review the current activities in the area of suicide prevention and to determine the priorities within this area to ensure that we maximise available resources. The Group will also review current national and international evidence on effective approaches in suicide prevention and will consider how the emerging evidence base can be used to inform the remaining period of the Reach Out strategy and influence new policy on suicide prevention beyond 2014.

Priority suicide prevention initiatives identified for this year include:

- The further development of existing National Mental Health Awareness campaigns to promote help seeking

- Increased training for GPs and practice staff.

- Building the capacity of communities to respond to suicide.

- Implementation of the clinical care programme for self-harm. This will include the funding of nursing posts within Hospital Emergency Departments, training of acute hospital staff on suicide and self-harm intervention and the development of the SCAN (Suicide Crisis Assessment Nurse) model which allows for crisis interventions at primary care.

- Investment in voluntary agencies providing frontline services.

The annual budget for suicide prevention increased this year to over €13m, with €8.1m available to the NOSP to fund voluntary and statutory agencies delivering services in the area of prevention, intervention, postvention and research and the remaining €5m available regionally to fund Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention, Self-Harm Liaison Nurses in Hospital Emergency Departments and local suicide prevention initiatives.