Suicide prevention programmes are urgently needed to reduce levels of suicide in Ireland, the president of the Irish Association of Suicidology said yesterday.
Dan Neville, speaking in advance of World Suicide Awareness Day today, said three out of every four people in the State now know somebody who has died by suicide.
About 600 people take their own lives in the Republic every year, and in excess of 11,000 people present at hospital A&E departments having self-harmed.
Calling for action, Mr Neville, also Fine Gael's deputy spokesman on health, said: "The Government must take the lead from other countries in putting in place suicide prevention programmes."
He added: "It is clear suicide and attempted suicide is having a serious effect on many of the population. The neglect of the past 10 years in dealing with the issue must stop, and commitment to resources to reduce suicide must be demanded of the Government."
Dr Jimmy Devins, the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, said last month the Government had now made a commitment to reduce the rate of suicide by 10 per cent by 2010.
Meanwhile, it was claimed yesterday that a suicidal teenager in Belfast had to wait up to three months for counselling.
Philip McTaggart, co-founder of the Public Initiative for the Prevention of Suicide and Self-Harm, said he had worked with one north Belfast youth aged 18 or 19 who had to wait three months for counselling.
"We are being inundated with calls from people looking for help. We are sending people to services that are supposed to be there and are not," he said. "We need more doctors and professionals in place. We need counsellors and we need them now."
Mr McTaggart lost his own son, also called Philip, four years ago to suicide. Some 291 deaths were attributed to suicide in the north last year, almost double the average of earlier years.
( Additional reporting by PA )