A new State agency, modelled on the Road Safety Authority, should be set up to tackle Ireland's suicide crisis, under a Bill that will be presented today by Fine Gael TD Derek Keating.

“If there were 10 people dying on our roads each week there would a national outcry, it would be seen as a crisis. That’s what’s happening in the case of suicide,” said Mr Keating.

Last year, 459 people died by suicide in Ireland, nearly three times the number that died on Irish roads four years ago, said Mr Keating, who was a director for six years of suicide charity Pieta House.

The new agency, he said, would spur co-operation across government departments and other State and local agencies.