I thank the Chairman for giving me the opportunity to present my document on what we can do about suicide in the new Ireland. I drew up the document as a result of people throughout the country, particularly councillors, telling me that they considered the incidence of suicide had reached epidemic proportions. People were coming to them, as elected representatives, to see how they could help. I spent a year studying the issue, starting from scratch as a layperson. I felt a responsibility as an elected representative to try to bring the issue onto the radar in Leinster House and among the wider public. I thank Deputy Neville for all the work he has done single-handedly in the past 20 years and his help in supporting me personally on this issue.
The three evidence-based research findings indicate that the following approaches are effective in preventing suicide: first, reducing alcohol consumption; second, the training of GPs in identifying depression; and, third, restricting access to lethal means. I will deal with these three issues in greater depth.
I am on a mission with regard to the whole issue of alcohol consumption. I am like a zealot and have spoken to different groups. We are too complacent about the consumption of alcohol which is a drug. We get very excited about taking heroin, cocaine and other drugs but when people take a drink, they are drugging themselves. While I am not anti-alcohol in that sense, it is a drug that is acceptable in society. If people were taking cocaine or cannabis in the liberal way they take drink, there would be an outcry.
We should phase out alcohol sponsorship of sports and other public events such as music concerts for young people. There is a conflict of interest. Sport is good for us mentally and physically but the sponsorship of major sports events by alcohol companies is in our faces. Every time I see it, I think it is pathetic. Such sponsorship should be phased out over five years.
The advertising of alcohol should be gradually reduced to a figure of 10% in the next five years. Drinking is presented to us in cinemas and advertisements as a very glamorous and sexy thing to do. It is suggested everything will be hunky-dory and that one will have no problems in life if one participates and joins the alcohol brand, whatever that is.
My second point in seeking an effective remedy for preventing suicide concerns the training of GPs. In carrying out my research and talking to families and the parents of children who had died by suicide, many told me they had brought their children to the doctor to be told there was nothing wrong with them, that they should pull themselves together and that they would be all right. We hear constantly that people are told by doctors that they will be all right. I suggest it should be very much a part of GP training that doctors should learn how to identify potential cases of suicide and self-harm and know the best methods of treatment, whether it be medication, cognitive therapy or otherwise.
There was 100% support at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting for my motion to reduce the size of paracetamol packets. One can buy two packets of paracetamol in a supermarket, despite the strict legislation in place. Two packets of paracetamol — 24 tablets — will destroy a person's liver forever. If one were to take three packets, one would be dead. There is very little awareness that on supermarket shelves and in many garages and shops such lethal weapons are available that can destroy one's liver and cause death very easily.
While I will not discuss the full series of 31 recommendations I have made, I will pick out the key ones. On cases of self-harm, Dr. Ella Arensman has an iconic graph which she calls an iceberg, most of which is underwater, which is where the hidden number of self-harm events are happening. She states approximately 60,000 people in Ireland self-harm every year. Self-harm, particularly repeated self-harm, is an indication a person could be suicidal.
I am coming from the perspective that we should put the issues of self-harm, mental illness and suicide on the radar. While we have made a lot of progress, there is still huge stigma in this regard. If a Deputy knocks on the door of a house when canvassing during an election, nobody will say they want help for a child, husband or wife who is mentally ill because there is a stigma attached to the illness. I believe that in 20 years there will no longer be that stigma; that people will look back and say it was savage. That is the way society has developed. There were savage behaviours at different times in society but society became more understanding and educated on various issues and over time they were accepted. I suggest we need to get to a position where people who suffer from depression, have suicidal tendencies or self-harm can rehabilitate themselves with proper treatment, medication and help and that they should be able to play a full part in society and develop their potential to the full. They cannot hide in the closet and should not feel ashamed to tell anybody they received help because they were feeling depressed or self-harmed.
One of the most serious problems is the lack of a service out-of-hours after 5 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays. People can go to their GP during the day but GPs generally operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The HSE helpline service is not available after 5.30 p.m. The only service available is operated by the Samaritans which provide a 24-hour helpline service. The organisation does outstanding work. Its representatives will tell us that in their work they have prevented people from dying by suicide. They listen to and help the people concerned. Particularly given the economic recession, with people losing their jobs and thinking that they may lose them and with banks trying to put the screws on people over the amount of money they owe, there are many who will become depressed, despite previously never having suffered from a mental illness. We need to let them know they are not alone. The Samaritans freefone number is 1850 609090, while the number of the Aware helpline for those who are feeling depressed is 1890 303302.
My document refers to the unemployed. In a recesssion persons who are unemployed will be more prone to suffer from a mental illness and, possibly, commit suicide. It is important that help should be available, not only emotional help from the Samaritans, but financial help such as is offered by the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, an outstanding organisation where people can go and talk out their financial problems. People are running into financial problems but they are not alone. Help is available and they should seek it out and not be afraid to do so. There are the credit unions and for those in a very serious financial situation there is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul which is discreetly active all the time in our communities. There is help.
Concerning the economic recession, it has been proven internationally that because of it, people will suffer from mental illness who never did so before and people will be suicidal never having been so before. There is pressure on even the strongest marriage when people who have not been used to being unemployed have their job status taken from them. They cannot bear to think they are no longer very important people earning a great deal of money and their self esteem drops.
Another important issue concerns older people and those who live alone. President McAleese recently launched an initiative by the GAA. Many people, particularly older men living in rural areas who would have spent years going to GAA matches, get to a certain age when they cease to go out. They stay at home and become lonely. This recent initiative themes GAA events around older people and men living on their own, encouraging them to get out of the house. When I talk publicly about suicide I tell people that going out to meet people is healthy, whereas becoming a recluse leads to depression, mental illness and, ultimately, to physical sickness.
I will speak about the document which came out about a month ago, supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Ms Sandra Gowran is in the public gallery today. This is an outstanding and timely document. In my research I came across evidence that families with young people and teenagers who are ambiguous about their sexual——
