Suicide-prevention programmes to get €1.11m

An additional €1.11 million is to be allocated to suicide prevention programmes in the health boards, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Mr Tim O'Malley, said today.

The money will fund research aimed at improving the understanding of suicide and parasuicide - the attempt at suicide by deliberately harming oneself without intending death.

The Minister announced the extra funding at the publication of the first annual report of the National Parasuicide Registry in Cork today. Research for the report was done by the National Suicide Research Foundation.

The report contains data on episodes of parasuicide over a 12-month period in four of the health boards - Midland, Mid-Western, South Eastern and Southern - and data for a six month period in the North Eastern Health Board.

It found that 10,000 cases of parasuicide resulted in hospitalisation. The highest parasuicide rates per 100,000 of population occur in the Mid-Western Health Board and South Eastern Health Board regions.

"A key factor in suicide prevention is the promotion of positive mental health. Mental illness has traditionally been a hidden illness that people were embarrassed to talk about. It is widely acknowledged that one in four women and one in ten men will experience depression during their lifetime," Mr O'Malley said.

"The promotion of positive mental health will contribute significantly to combating the ignorance and stigma which often surrounds mental illness and will also be effective in the area of suicide prevention especially among young people," he said.

In his address the Minister praised the work of the National Suicide Research Foundation saying: "I am aware that due to the foundation's reputation for high quality research, it has been invited to participate in several important international studies, and is the Irish centre in the WHO/Euro Multicentre Study on suicidal behaviour. This is a great achievement".