Pledge to plug gap in funds to curb suicide

The Government has pledged that any “gap” in funding for suicide prevention will be addressed and that the issue of suicide will be prioritised.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said yesterday that mental health services have been “grossly underfunded” in recent years.

His comments came after Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh pointed out that four times as many people die from suicide in Ireland compared to road deaths.

Mr Coveney told the Dáil he would ask Health Minister James Reilly to address any “gap” or concerns about a strategy to tackle suicide given the current one concludes next year.

He added: “That is the reason the Government prioritised this area in contrast to the previous Government by introducing new initiatives and increasing expenditure on mental health services despite facing difficult budgetary challenges. We must continue to prioritise this area.”

Mr Ó Snodaigh said that 1,000 people had died from suicide in 2011 as opposed to 245 from road deaths. However, funding for road safety was much more, he argued.

He also detailed the case of a suicidal girl who was forced to wait four nights in an emergency ward in Cork University Hospital before being referred for appropriate care.

The Sinn Féin TD added that: “One child under 18 years dies by suicide every 18 days. Moreover, the State has the fourth-highest youth suicide rate in Europe and the figure is increasing.”

He also said suicide as a national crisis required an all-Ireland response: “An island-wide national emergency is occurring in respect of suicide and it requires an island- wide emergency national response.”

Mr Coveney, who was taking Leaders’ Questions while Taoiseach Enda Kenny was at the G8 summit in the North, responded: “We need modern initiatives to assist our understanding of suicide and suicide prevention and we must put anything learned from such initiatives into effect.”

The Government had agreed to make €35m in funding available to mental health services this year, said Mr Coveney. This would help develop a national plan of action on suicide prevention.

“I am confident the Cabinet will continue to prioritise this area.”