Suicide took more lives than road deaths last year

More people died by suicide than were killed in road accidents last year, said Dan Neville TD, Fine Gael deputy spokesperson on health.

Official figures state that 413 people took their own lives. Road deaths amounted to 415 last year.

"There is a major on-going campaign to create public awareness about the best way to reduce the carnage on our roads and rightly so," said Deputy Neville.

"Little investment goes into research on suicide and why numbers have rocketed since the sixties, when an average of 63 people died by their own hands each year."