Less pressure at school and more openness about sexuality are among the issues which coroners feel should be tackled in an attempt to address the high level of suicides in the State.
They also say there needs to be greater awareness-raising of the signs and symptoms of suicide to enable people to assist those who may be contemplating taking their own lives.
The findings are contained in an All-Ireland study of coroners' attitudes to suicide and its prevention, which will be presented at the annual conference of the Irish Association of Suicidology in Wexford today.
Ninety-seven coroners North and South were asked what they felt should be done to prevent suicide; the 60 who responded listed many issues which needed to be addressed.
Most called for better mental health facilities and for counselling to be more readily available.
Ms Rachel Farrow, research psychologist with the National Suicide Research Foundation, said when they were asked what they felt was the main reason people committed suicide, 40 per cent believed mental health difficulties including loneliness were a significant cause.
"This highlights the fact that coroners know more than one issue needs to be addressed to prevent suicide, that it's not just a matter of tackling depression. It includes social and cultural issues," she said.
A further paper being presented at the conference today will deal with the suicide cluster in Wexford in 2002.
Ms Seán McCarthy, resource officer for suicide prevention with the South Eastern Health Board, said that over a six-week period during November and December 2002 there were 11 suspected deaths by suicide in the area of Enniscorthy and its hinterland. Seven occurred over a 12-day period between November 16th and 28th, four of which have been registered as suicide and three of which have been registered as having an "undetermined" cause of death.
The deaths received a lot of media attention at the time as a number of the victims had drowned in the Slaney river, and a search of its waters continued for weeks to recover all bodies.
Mr McCarthy explained that the health board set up a helpline and drop-in counselling service for the local community.
"One of our key objectives was to prevent any further traumatic deaths if we could by supporting individuals in the community," he said.
All second-level schools in the county were also contacted to see if they needed support, and 4,000 wallet-size cards were distributed with telephone numbers of support services available locally and nationally. Talks were also given to local community groups.
The helpline, which was in operation until January, received 53 calls, 23 of which were related to the traumatic deaths; 14 people availed of the drop-in counselling service.
Mr McCarthy confirmed that a study was being undertaken into the issues that may have affected people who took their own lives in the county in late 2002.
"There was very heavy rainfall at that time. There were also a number of fatal road traffic accidents. We need to look at all those to see what may have been the impacters if there were common factors, and there may not have been common factors," he said.
A total of 444 suicides were recorded in the Republic last year, a slight decrease on 2002 when 451 were reported.
The highest suicide rate over the past five years has been among men aged 20 to 29 years, according to the latest report from the National Suicide Review Group.