Call for €10m to tackle suicide

THE GOVERNMENT has been urged to increase resources for suicide prevention services in order to tackle the high level of youth suicide in Ireland.

Fine Gael TD Dan Neville, who is president of the Irish Association of Suicidology, said that Ireland now has the fifth highest rate of youth suicide in Europe.

In 2005, it was recommended that the National Office for Suicide Prevention receive a budget of €5.5 million, but its budget for 2008 has been frozen at €3.5 million.

"This budget allocated by Government is totally inadequate and must be increased immediately to €10 million," Mr Neville said.

"The Government allocates €40 million to the Road Safety Authority.

"All deaths are tragic, but it is a fact that more people die by suicide than on our roads," Mr Neville added.

The 2008 conference of the Irish Association of Suicidology will focus on youth suicide and will seek to shed light on why so many young people are taking their own lives.

"It is important that the reasons why this is happening are identified and understood so that society may respond appropriately," Mr Neville said.

"The psychological and social pressures on young people in the first decade of the 21st century must be clearly identified and programmes to equip young people to respond to those pressures should be introduced.

"The resources must be provided by the State to complete this."

Details of the conference can be found on the Irish Association of Suicidology's website, www.ias.ie

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times