I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Moffatt, to the House. It is sad, as we approach Christmas, that it was necessary, as a result of recent deaths in Dublin prisons, to seek a debate on the question of young people committing suicide. I wonder if the young people who have just left the Public Gallery will remember their visit to the Seanad as the day when they heard a debate on a topic which should be very far from their young minds.
During my previous period in this House my colleague, Deputy Neville, a former Senator, did trojan work in bringing the issue of suicide before the public. He persisted and it is as a result of his work that we are debating this matter today. As president of the Irish Association of Suicidology, he constantly monitors and evaluates what is being done. This morning we held a very optimistic debate on the national development plan, but everything in our society is not right. We must place greater emphasis on people and on the need to support them.
As a teacher, I followed the careers of the young girls I had taught and wondered if intervention in the education system might have reached out to them and prevented future difficulties. Young boys are at a greater risk of suicide than girls. The Minister of State referred to the need for interventions within education. This is not a subject one would like to have to discuss with a class of bright young teenagers, but the issue must be touched on. The statistics quoted by the Minister – 421 males and 83 females, which is a 14 per cent increase on the previous year, are shocking. In the past we thought that socio-economic pressures drove people to suicide, but this is not necessarily so. We never lived in such economically buoyant times as we do now and still the figures are going up. We must provide the resources necessary to ensure that health boards, the Department and the task force can detect people at risk of suicide and make the necessary intervention.
I do not forget prisons. I listened to a radio discussion the other day in which Dr. Charles Smith of the Central Mental Hospital appeared to differ with Dr. Ronan Ryder with regard to counselling of prisoners. Charles Smith seemed to think one would know the people who were suffering from mental illness and could deal with them appropriately. Research is needed for those not in that category.
The figure for youth suicide – 120 per annum – is shocking. These suicides are predominantly male and suicide is now the greatest killer of young men. Some say that young men are not as ready as young women to accept the changes in society. Others feel that problems arise from the changing role of young males in society. When Finola Bruton referred to the fact that young men were a group at risk in our society she was attacked because of her concentration on that issue. She was absolutely right in terms of equality. Sometimes we look at equality from the female perspective only but there must also be equality from the male perspective. She spoke about this because she knew that cohort was at risk. I am sure there are some in that socio-economic grouping who, while not suicidal, feel alienated and not in charge of their lives.
The statistics for the Limerick area are very sad. We have all, as politicians, attended funerals of suicide victims, which are most harrowing. What can one say to the parents, siblings and friends? The young people all go to those funerals and are shattered and shocked. They might have been out the night before with the individual and had hands-on contact with them. The individual boy – it is mostly boys – would not have been a recluse but would have been someone with whom they had been in contact the day before. They are shocked and horrified by these incidents. I was at a number of funerals in the Limerick area where I saw at first hand the devastation of family life. However, life goes on and the community looks after the young people and the parents, which is a good aspect of Irish life, and helps them to come to grips with such enormous tragedy, not just for the period of the funeral and the following weeks. There should, of course, be other interventions outside the normal neighbourly kindness and support, which is very helpful.
According to a Dáil reply to a question on the up-to-date statistics for Limerick, 12 males and five females, a total of 17, committed suicide in 1997. Those figures increased to 19 males and three females, a total of 22. It is quite frightening to see that 39 children in the ten to 19 age group – an age when the world is their oyster – committed suicide in 1996 and 53 did so in 1998, which is a huge increase. In 1998 there were 100 suicides in the 30 to 39 year old age group. There is also an increased incidence of suicide among older people due to loneliness or whatever. In the 50 to 64 year old age group – a time when people should be enjoying the hard earned fruits of their work – the figure increased from 58 to 73 in 1998. Between 1996 and 1998 the figure increased from 409 to 504 suicides, an increase of almost 100. That is absolutely shocking. According to the Central Statistics Office, the incidence has increased in the Mid-Western Health Board region from 13.1 to 14 per 100,000 of the population.
Young people are exposed to social and psychological pressures, one aspect of which is the instability of family life. I am sure that is a reason for suicide in every country. Questions must be asked as to why so many young people are suffering from depression and feel so utterly despairing. That area must be researched.
Suicide has an effect not only on the parents but on the entire family unit. Health boards need to have a multidisciplinary team available, as requested, to assist both the family and the community which has been bereaved by a member who felt in such despair that he or she decided to take his or her life.
The Samaritans have given marvellous service. They are very caring and unselfish. However, we should not expect voluntary associations, such as the Samaritans, to be always there to help, as happened in the past. We need support from general practitioners, the clergy, the Garda and individual bereavement counsellors and health boards. Such people need further training because we are learning more about the reasons for the higher incidence of suicide. We must ensure there is training for the people involved, such as GPs, clergymen, gardaí and teachers, so that they have the necessary skills to understand and respond to the deep crisis suffered by the bereaved in the aftermath of the death of a loved one.
I could spend a lot of time talking about the supports necessary for the bereaved. That should be taken on board. Life goes on but the needs of the family must be addressed. It should not be the case that nothing is done after a prison suicide or otherwise hits the headlines. I was glad, in a sense, to hear women being interviewed about their sons the other day. However, why is it always women who have to come to the fore? This also hurts fathers. Perhaps it would be good if the fathers could talk about these issues, especially when the incidence of suicide is so high among the male population. The Minister referred to the report of the national Task Force on Suicide which was published in 1998. I referred to the community multidisciplinary psychiatric services and training. Input is also needed for teachers.
When I refer to teachers, I am also talking about teachers at third level. Many students at third level institutions are removed from the support structures of home and may feel further alienated. The chaplain in the University of Limerick is a wonderful young priest who has brought this into the open. Every year he celebrates special masses and provides special supports. He gets such a large congregation of young people at mass on Sunday night that one cannot get into the church. That shows what can happen when someone addresses this issue in a third level institution, where people can feel alienated, and provides a support structure. Students can turn to the church, which is often lambasted. This particular clergyman is invaluable to the University of Limerick in terms of the support he provides.
There is controversy about initiating programmes aimed at teaching children about positive health issues, including coping strategies and basic information about positive mental health. We had those programmes in our school in Limerick. It was very important to have that discussion.
There is also controversy about how the press reports individual suicides. There should be dialogue between the Department of Health and Children and the press – perhaps there already is – to ensure positive reporting. Some parents have said to me that the constant reporting of suicide in the press encourages young people to do the same. Has that area been researched?
The Department of Health and Children should also address the psychological needs of older people. That must be met headlong. I have given statistics on the increased incidence of suicide among older people. Is it the view that adults are supposed to just get on with their lives? Older people can be isolated and it is essential that they receive counselling and social intervention. The elderly were mentioned during the debate on the national development plan. I was shocked by the statistic that 200,000 people – I could be corrected on that statistic – will spend Christmas alone this year, prior to the new millennium about which everyone is talking so enthusiastically. That level of isolation is shocking. There should be community intervention in that regard and people should look in on their elderly neighbours. I can imagine how one would feel if one were alone. Most of those people were on their own the year after the death of their spouse. That is a shocking indictment of Irish life. We must look out for these things. Perhaps we are moving into a very fast society which is consumer oriented and we are forgetting we are supposed to help each other. These matters should be considered.
I look forward to a debate on this issue when we are not just reacting to the increased incidence of suicide. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children, of which I am a member, should debate this on a regular basis rather than just responding when we hear of another death. We must deal with this as politicians on an ongoing basis to ensure that no section of society lacks the much needed interventions to help them to cope and to avoid the harrowing choice of taking one's life which really saddens all of us.