More than 1,500 people have committed suicide in the four years since 1993, according to figures released by the Minister for Health.
A total of 1,525 people have died since 1993 up to March this year, Mr Cowen said. Of those, 327 people committed suicide in 1993, while 357 people died in 1994. The figure rose again to 392 in 1995 and in 1996, 378 people committed suicide. In the first three months of this year 71 people died, according to provisional figures.
Since 1993 one child, under nine years old, committed suicide and the death was registered in 1995, according to the figures issued in reply to a written question from Mr Dan Neville (FG, Limerick West).