Mental health and suicide crisis ‘a national emergency’

The Government is under pressure to make mental health and suicide prevention a national emergency after the Dáil heard concerns about 16 people taking their own lives in two weeks in Cork.

Opposition parties raised the issue of suicides in the city and county after the Irish Examiner highlighted the crisis, with calls from mental health campaigners for better support services.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the suicide crisis sweeping through Cork was twice the national rate.