The increasing number of deaths by suicide are a tragic illustration of the Government's failure to invest in a prevention programme, it was claimed today.
As new figures from the Central Statistics Office revealed 457 suicides in 2004, Dan Neville, the president of the Irish Association of Suicidology and Fine Gael health spokesman, called on the Government to take urgent action to deal with the crisis.
The figures showed 356 males and 101 females died by suicide last year, compared to 358 males and 86 females in 2003. The figure for 2004 was up 13 on the previous year.
Mr Neville said the Government had spent €17 million on suicide prevention since the National Taskforce on Suicide reported in 1998, compared to €150 on road-building projects.
He claimed the low levels of funding levels intended to deal with the rising rates of suicide amounted to neglect.
"I do not detract from the necessity for road safety campaigns but it is quite clear that the stigma associated with suicide is obstructing it from being the subject of a nationwide prevention campaign," he said.
Mr Neville claimed 11,500 people had presented at accident and emergency units in 2004 having attempted to take their own lives.
But he warned there was no research available on the numbers of people who, having attempted suicide, presented themselves to their family doctor or did not seek help. "It is conservatively estimated that in excess of 60,000 people attempt to take their own lives each year," he said.
The National Suicide Foundation reported a 7 per cent increase in levels of parasuicide last year.
Mr Neville said a lack of spending on prevention was not the only problem. "Ninety per cent of those who take their own lives suffer from psychological or emotional problems yet, in 2005, the Government proposes spending just €15 million extra on psychiatric services," he said.