Call for more State funds for suicide-prevention helpline

THE GOVERNMENT has been urged to find additional funding for Teen-Line Ireland after it said calls to its helpline had risen by 150 per cent.

The suicide-prevention charity aimed at teenagers took over 900 calls to its helpline in January. In September, having expanded its opening hours, it took almost 1,700.

The Health Service Executive's National Office for Suicide Prevention cut the charity's funding by 12.5 per cent in March. Ireland has the fourth-highest rate of youth suicide in the EU, after Lithuania, Finland and Estonia.

Fine Gael spokesman on juvenile justice, Deputy Joe Carey called on the Government to commit to additional funding to Teen-Line. He said the Government needed to do more to stem the rise in youth suicide. "In the last month alone, almost a quarter of all suicides in Ireland have been among teenagers . . . With the post-Celtic Tiger reality, there needs to be a really concerted effort . . ."