The need to highlight and embrace suicide prevention measures was recently underlined at a number of inquests held in Co Wexford, according to suicide family support groups.
Thirteen inquests were held in New Ross, Co Wexford, within the last two weeks, 10 of them in relation to people taking their own lives. Most related to young people who died in their mid-to-late teens or early 20s.
According to Aware, a leading support group for those affected by depression, there is a marked link between the condition and incidents of suicide.
Providing vital emotional support and information for those affected by depressive illness the organisation's main aim is to create greater public awareness about the nature and consequences of depression. More than 300,000 people in Ireland are affected, Aware says.
"Depression is a treatable illness but in severe and untreated cases, it can lead to suicide," a spokeswoman for the organisation said recently.
"It remains a widely under-reported condition due to the lack of recognition of symptoms as the stigma which still surrounds all types of mental ill-health."
A spokesman for Console, another support group for families affected by suicide, revealed that the average number of people who attended hospital accident and emergency departments after participating in "an act of self-harm" was "in the region of 12,000".
The Console spokesman said: "The media has a very big role to play in that and while reporting such matters can be traumatic for the families involved, it is one of the ways in which the tragedy of such events can be brought into the public domain."