The number of people who commit suicide is a national scandal and Irish people should hang their heads in shame, the chairman of the Psychiatric Nurses' Association, Mr Liam McNamara, has told the association's annual conference.
At the conference in Limerick yesterday, he criticised the Government for cutting suicide research funding by nearly 50 per cent in the last budget to €665,000.
In his address to delegates, Mr McNamara criticised the Government's decision to cut suicide research funding as "nothing short of criminal".
While acknowledging the work already carried out by the National Suicide Review Group, Mr McNamara called for a more pro-active approach to the issue of suicide.
He also called on the Government to review the regulations governing the sale of paracetamol.
A recent study of the A&E departments in the South-Eastern Health Board examined more than 1,100 cases of self-harm. According to the study, paracetamol was responsible for nearly a third of all overdose cases recorded in the survey.
Previous attempts to regulate the availability of the drug, by confining packs to 24 tablets or less, had been unsuccessful because paracetamol was readily available in shops and supermarkets, delegates heard.
Delegates questioned the Government's commitment to suicide prevention given that suicides had actually increased to 451 in 2002.
The 220 delegates at the conference heard that the highest rate of suicide over the past five years had been among men aged between 20 and 28 years.
Since 1997, the number of registered suicide deaths has constantly been higher than the number of people killed in road traffic accidents.