The Deputy is mistaken in his assertion that expenditure on suicide prevention programmes has been reduced in recent years. In fact, the opposite is the case. The level of additional funding being provided to health boards by my Department for suicide prevention has increased from €190,000 in 1999 to €3.8 million in 2002.
Additional funding allocated to a service in one year becomes part of the baseline funding for that service in subsequent years. Therefore, since the publication of the report of the task force on suicide in 1998, a cumulative total of over €8 million in additional funding has been provided towards suicide prevention and towards research aimed at improving understanding of this issue. These figures do not include funding provided by other Government Departments such as the Departments of Education and Science, Environment and Local Government and Justice, Equality and Law Reform which were identified in the report of the national task force on suicide as having a role to play in suicide prevention.
The report of the task force on suicide recommended that steps be taken to make the mental health services more accessible to the public, particularly to young people. Concern was also expressed at the risk of suicide in older people. In this regard, additional funding has been made available in recent years to further develop consultant-led child and adolescent psychiatry and old age psychiatry services to assist in the early identification of suicidal behaviour and provide the necessary support and treatment to individuals at risk. Funding allocated to these initiatives is not recorded as expenditure on suicide prevention, but has a vital role to play in the area.
Significant funding has also been provided for many voluntary organisations who deal with people suffering from depression, mental illness and bereavement who are at risk of suicide and attempted suicide. Again, this funding is not recorded under the heading of suicide prevention.
Considerable progress has been made to date in the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the national task force on suicide. Many of the recommendations of the task force, however, require continuous development particularly in the area of training and in the development of services relating to suicide and suicide prevention. I am fully committed to supporting suicide prevention programmes and the health strategy published last year includes a commitment to intensify the existing suicide prevention programmes over the coming years.
The additional resources required to continue the work in suicide prevention and the further development of mental health services for individuals who may be at risk will be considered in the context of the overall determination of expenditure for mental health services for 2003 and subsequent years.
I cannot comment on the allocation of funds to road safety, as this is a matter for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government.
