Suicide Prevention Needs Resources – Crowe

Dublin South West TD Seán Crowe has called on the Government to provide more resources to suicide prevention groups and said that it’s increasingly obvious that we need a fully integrated all-Ireland strategy on suicide prevention.

Crowe made his remarks at a fundraiser in Kiltalown House organised by the Tallaght Rehabilitation Programme in advance of International Suicide Prevention Day which takes place this Wednesday.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“A recent European Child Safety Alliance report released in March this year found that Ireland has the highest rate of suicide in young females across Europe and the second highest rate of suicide in young males.

“Behind these frightening statistics are grieving families still trying to deal with the fall out of losing a child to suicide.

“The current recession and austerity policies by this and the previous Government have undoubtedly led to huge job losses, home repossessions, homelessness and added pressure on individuals and their families.

“Men and women from all age brackets have been thrown into mental health crises due to some of these factors and may have triggered suicide ideation.

“There is hardly a community in Ireland that hasn’t been affected by suicide and this is now one of the growing major issues facing society.

“A key priority for suicide prevention must be the development of adequate 24/7 crisis support services for people experiencing severe mental or emotional distress. The current situation in our health services is just not up to the challenge and needs to be resourced.

“We need to see the roll out and full implementation of the mental health strategy – ‘A Vision for Change’. This means suicide prevention groups being resourced from the Government and must become a priority in this year’s budget.

“There now exists more meetings between officials about suicide prevention north and south, we clearly need a fully developed proper all-Ireland strategy on suicide prevention.

“We are a small island and we need to learn from what we are doing right and change what, as the figures suggest, we are doing wrong.”