Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2016
373. Deputy Josepha Madigan asked the Minister for Health to consider setting up a suicide prevention authority; to consider the draft Bill to establish a suicide prevention authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17978/16]
View answerI have no plans to set up a separate suicide prevention authority. This function is currently being carried out by the HSE’s National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) which was established in 2005 to oversee the implementation of the then national suicide prevention strategy and to coordinate suicide prevention initiatives around the country.
In June last year, the Government launched ‘Connecting for Life’, our new strategy to reduce suicide and self harm rates over the period 2015-2020. The new Strategy, which has an implementation focus on youth mental health, sets out a vision where fewer lives are lost through suicide, and where communities and individuals are empowered to improve their mental health and well-being. This includes a greater focus on the important area of support for families and communities in suicide prevention, and providing community-based organisations with guidelines, protocols and training on effective suicide prevention. In addition to this, in line with the Programme for Government, a Youth Mental Health Taskforce is currently being formed. This taskforce aims to assist our young people in developing resilience and coping skills to support their emotional well-being at an early stage, and build awareness of how to access high-quality effective services when they need them. It marks a focused approach to youth mental well-being, creating a link between community supports and service supports to assist our young people in reaching their potential.
Connecting for Life provides a detailed and clear plan to achieve each of the goals it proposes, with defined actions and a lead agency and key partners in place for each individual objective. This plan will be supported by robust implementation and governance structures, as well as resourcing and communications frameworks. The Strategy assigns specific responsibility to the NOSP as a statutory agency to fulfil a number of tasks, including the development and implementation of surveillance systems, the implementation and evaluation of the Strategy, the development and provision of suicide prevention training and education programmes, increasing national awareness about suicide prevention and setting out a national suicide research and prevention programme. NOSP, together with the Department of Health, other Government Departments, NGO and community partners are proceeding with the implementation of Connecting for Life.
