More people die as a result of suicide than in road accidents each year, yet far more is spent on road safety campaigns compared to suicide prevention programmes, it has emerged.
Aware, a support group for people affected by depression, told the Oireachtas Committee on Health that €17 million was spent on suicide prevention and research over the last seven years. A similar amount was spent on road safety last year, the group said. In 2003, some 336 people were killed on Irish roads, while 444 people died by suicide.
"Experts internationally have estimated that approximately 80 per cent of suicides can be traced back to depression. So depressive illness can be fatal, in severe, under-recognised or under-treated cases. Yet there have been no national public information campaigns on mental health and suicide," said Ms Julie Healy, Aware's national support group co-ordinator.
International figures suggest that depression affects more than 300,000 people in Ireland. The economic costs of the condition, according to some reports, may be in the region of 1 per cent of a country's GDP, Aware told the committee.
Ms Healy said investment in the promotion of mental health and prevention programmes would lead to considerable savings in both direct and indirect social costs of depression.
Funding of the mental sector as a proportion of the health budget has been falling from 11 per cent to 6.8 per cent between 1997 and 2003, the group said.
Aware said financial gains from the sale of land and buildings, previously used by psychiatric services, should be ring-fenced for use in the mental health services.
The chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health, Dr Jimmy Devins TD, agreed that more money needed to be directed towards awareness programmes.