42 Mr. O'Leary asked the Minister for Health the proposals, if any, he has put forward in order to reduce the recently high incidence of suicide in our society. [4330/97]

Limerick East): The increase in the numbers of reported suicides and parasuicides in Ireland over the past two decades is an issue of growing national concern. Investigation and detailed research into the causes of suicide has not been easy at national and international level. In the past there has been an understandable reluctance to even discuss the issue and this made the compilation of accurate data on the frequency and pattern of suicide more difficult.

The Government's Health Strategy — Shaping a Healthier Future— expressed concern about the increase in the rate of suicide in Ireland. If help is to be made available to those at risk, it is essential that reliable information should be available on the occurence of, and factors associated with, suicidal behaviour. In order to address this issue, I established a National Task Force on Suicide in November 1995. The ultimate aim of this task force is to formulate a national suicide prevention/reduction strategy.

The interim report of the task force which I launched in September 1996 contains a detailed analysis of statistics relating to suicide, and attempted suicide in Ireland and includes a preliminary analysis of the factors which might possibly contribute to changes in the incidence of suicide. Since the publication of this report, the task force has been involved in a major consultative process which is required to formulate the national prevention/reduction strategy. The task force is now in the process of preparing this strategy which will be published in the coming months.