May I share my time with Deputy Neville?
Adjournment Debate. - Counselling Services.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I raise this issue because of my concern that the number of people committing suicide is nearly as many, if not more, as the number being killed on our roads each year. At the last meeting of the North-Eastern Health Board we received a report dated 28 September 1998. The National Task Force on Suicide was established by the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Noonan, to identify the problem as regards suicide and how it could be effectively addressed.
The North-Eastern Health Board decided to initiate its own study. In 1997, the first year of the above study 36 suicides occurred in the four counties in which the North-Eastern Health Board is involved. That worked out at a rate of 11.8 per 100,000 of population. The figure was only provisional because a number of other cases had to be dealt with. The most common method of suicide, unfortunately, is hanging at 44 per cent followed by shooting at 23 per cent.
The health board completed a separate study on youth views on suicide. A total of 857 teenagers co-operated with the board and were asked questions about self-harm, behaviour and thoughts of suicide. Approximately 23.5 per cent expressed some degree of suicidal thoughts and 12.5 per cent admitted self-harm and suicidal thoughts over the previous six months. Anxiety and depression symptoms appeared to be most closely associated with both suicide and thoughts of self-harm. That in itself gave me the idea to follow up on the problem and to see if the Oireachtas can do anything about it.
Given the substantial proportion of males, 86 per cent, and the number of people committing suicide, a substantial number under the age of 25 years, there is a need for counsellors to be appointed to second level schools. This proposal should be seriously considered given the amount of money involved and the amount the Government has at its disposal leading up to this year's budget. If we are earnest about trying to tackle the problem, we should appoint counsellors so that they are available to talk to young children with problems in schools. There may be many problems at home about which the individual will have no one to talk. As the Government proposes to tackle the problem of deaths on the roads, it should be as committed to helping to tackle this problem and we should start in this area.
I compliment Deputy Farrelly for raising this issue and giving me an opportunity to contribute. In the first quarter of 1998, 106 males and 23 females suffered death by suicide. These figures are provisional as they refer to deaths registered during January to March 1998 rather than deaths which actually occurred during that period. This figure is, therefore, a conservative one. The figure annualised totals 516. This represents an increase of 19 per cent on the 1997 figures. It is difficult not to sensationalise this epidemic but we must not do so.
I appreciate the Minister present does not have direct responsibility in this area but I plead with the Minister responsible to immediately implement in full the recommendations of the National Task Force on Suicide. In the area to which Deputy Farrelly referred, the National Task Force on Suicide recommended that teachers at all levels be supported in respect of the psychological and social dimensions of their work through undergraduate and continual education courses. It further recommends that programmes should be initiated aimed at teaching the child about positive health issues, including coping strategies and basic information about positive mental health at an earlier stage as a natural part of their health care curriculum. Guidance counsellors should be available at all schools.
On three occasions in recent months, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy O'Dea, announced the introduction of psychological services and said a planning group had been set up to establish such a service for all young people inside and outside school and that its report was imminent. I do not want to be political but I am extremely tempted to be when I hear the Minister of State making such an announcement for the third time. I expected the Minister of State to be here to announce it a fourth time, but it is important that we introduce the service.
I thank Deputy Farrelly and Deputy Neville for the sincerity they have shown in the way they approached this important subject. I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Cowen. As the Deputy is aware, the report of the National Task Force on Suicide published in February 1998 put forward a national suicide prevention-reduction strategy which placed particular emphasis on the need for concerted and co-ordinated action by the various authorities with jurisdiction in suicide prevention strategy.
Since the publication of the report, the Minister has been in contact with a number of his ministerial colleagues, including the Minister for Education and Science, with a view to implementing the task force recommendations. The Department of Health and Children has also contacted all the statutory agencies identified in the report with jurisdiction in suicide prevention strategies, requesting that the necessary measures are put in place to ensure the implementation of the recommendations which relate to their respective areas.
In relation to the Deputy's inquiry concerning counselling services in post primary schools, it is understood that an action plan for the development of guidance and counselling in post primary schools is being prepared by the Department of Education and Science and that the process of consultation and the finalisation of this plan is nearing completion. The Minister for Education and Science expects to make an announcement about the general thrust of this plan in the near future. All post-primary schools have sanction to avail of certain levels of guidance and counselling provision. I understand that the Department of Education and Science is also working on the development of guidelines for schools on the issue of responding to all traumatic incidents which may occur from time to time.
A Department of Education and Science planning group, on which the Department of Health and Children was represented, has just finalised a report on the development of a national educational psychological service for all schools. Arrangements will be put in place to establish this service under a national educational psychological service agency early in 1999. It is intended that there will be consultation with the Department of Health and Children on how a new national educational psychological service will relate to psychological services provided by the health boards for children and young people and on related matters, such as the development of guidance and counselling and support for schools in regard to issues such as the prevention of suicides and responses to traumatic incidents.
In the broader context, the Department of Health and Children has been involved in partnership with the health boards and the Department of Education and Science in the development of many initiatives that relate to the social, psychological and well being of young people. They include substance abuse and child abuse prevention programmes and the development of the health promotion schools project. A fundamental principle of these initiatives is that the development of self-esteem and a positive self-concept is important in establishing a confident self-image for our young people. This philosophy coupled with practical decision making skills and relevant information can better equip our young people to take their place in society.
I assure the Deputies that the Department of Health and Children will continue to work in co-operation with the Department of Education and Science on these matters and other areas of mutual concern. I thank them for raising this matter.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.35 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 8 October 1998.