Experts on suicide have called on the Government to urgently increase spending on mental health to help to reverse the rising trend in the number of young people taking their own lives each year.
Dr John Connolly, a consultant psychiatrist and co-founder of the Irish Association of Suicidology, said a large proportion of people suffering from depression who went on to die by suicide received inadequate treatment for their condition.
Dr Connolly was speaking at a weekend conference in Dromahair, Co Leitrim, organised by the support group Stop (Suicide - teach, organise, prevent), founded by three local families bereaved by suicide in recent years.
"What distresses me greatly is that we know our suicide rates for young people are among the highest in the EU, yet the people most at risk are not receiving an adequate service," he said.
"Funding levels are totally inadequate. We are still labouring under antiquated mental health legislation dating back to the 1940s, mainly because the Government is not preparing to sign money off enacting the new legislation." He said countries such as Scotland proportionately spent up to three times as much of their health budget on mental health programmes compared to Ireland.
Latest official figures show our suicide rate among young men is rising faster than any other country in the European Union.
Figures for 2003 show 444 people died by suicide. The highest rate of suicide over the past five years has been among young men aged between 20 and 29, according to a report by the National Suicide Review Group.
However, these figures are likely to be an underestimate of the real scale of the problem, research suggests.
Studies in recent years have indicated that official figures understated suicides by 28 per cent in Mayo and 16 per cent in Kildare.
The authors of the report adopted the civil law concept of balance of probabilities rather than the criminal law concept of suicide being established beyond reasonable doubt to calculate their figures.
Dr Connolly said a revised form which gardaí use after an inquest, form 104, is likely to improve the reporting of suicide.
The new form details the social and personal circumstances of the deceased, including evidence of drug or alcohol dependency and mental/physical medical history.
Ms Aggie Boylan, a researcher on suicide in the north-west, said statistics showed that up to 80 per cent of people who take their own lives will have talked about suicide in some form to a friend or family member before their death. She also said research indicated that up to 10 per cent of people who attempt suicide will do so again within the following 12 months, and 1 per cent will die by suicide within a year.
Health authorities in the region are currently undertaking a study on the reasons people attempt to take their lives, based on interviews with patients in A&E units and referrals from GPs' surgeries.
The Irish Association of Suicidology, meanwhile, has called for a series of preventative measures to be taken which would help tackle the rise in suicide.
These include training of health care personnel, school-based programmes, and more help-lines and crisis centres.
Supporting people at risk
What parents can do to help prevent suicide:
1. Support your child: talk to them, avoid undue criticism, encourage them
2. Get your child help: try to source professional help, such as counselling, if necessary
3. Become informed: find information from support groups, Internet and libraries
4. Watch their alcohol consumption: risk-taking behaviour can be a warning sign for suicide
What friends can do to help prevent suicide:
1. Encourage your friend to seek professional help: go to a GP or counsellor
2. Support them: accompany them in seeking professional help, if necessary
3. Don't keep a friend's suicidal thoughts secret: acting against a friend's wishes by telling a trusted adult or professional is a necessary response to a serious situation
Source: Irish Association of Suicidology