The strengthening of Mental Health Services is a priority for me and for this Government. The mental health budget has risen from €711 million in 2012 to over €912 million in 2018, an increase of over €200m, or around 28%, in six years. I have already secured agreement from the Minister for Public Expenditure that the Budget will increase by a further €55 million in 2019.
The Government is addressing the issue of suicide in particular in a number of ways. These include a national strategy to reduce suicide and self-harm, Connecting for Life; the launch of localised action plans to tailor the strategy to specific area needs; and continued research to inform an evidence base for providing support to those with suicidal thoughts.
Much of this work is carried out by a dedicated office, the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP). Its main purpose is to effectively support, inform, monitor and co-ordinate the implementation of Ireland’s National Strategy to Reduce Suicide, Connecting for Life. To achieve the outcomes of the strategy, NOSP works with the broad range of statutory, non-statutory and community partners engaged in suicide prevention. We have increased funding to this body from €3.7 million in 2010 to the current level of €12 million.
These actions are reflected in the most recent suicide statistics. In 2011, Ireland had a suicide rate of 12.1 per 100,000 population. This has dropped each subsequent year, with the provisional data for 2017 showing a suicide rate of 8.2 per 100,000 population. The most recent Eurostat data, which compares data of suicide rates across 33 European countries, shows that Ireland had the 10th lowest rate of suicide for males and females of all ages in 2015.
It should also be highlighted that the statistic mentioned within the question does not reflect current figures. Taking the most recent Eurostat figures from 2015, these show that when looking at numbers of men aged between 15-24 who died by intentional self-harm within the European Union, Ireland ranks 19th .
Connecting for Life has identified specific priority groups who are at specific risk of suicide, which includes young people. Reducing the suicide within these specific priority groups along with the whole population is a key outcome set out by the strategy.
While funding mental health services, which is not exclusive to my department, is an important component of achieving a reduction in suicides and improved services, a proposal to simply add more money to the budget will not improve mental health services on its own. I would welcome proposals outlining recommendations and proposed actions from any organisation, which can in turn be evaluated on outcomes and available funding.
