No issue is capturing the mood or the attention of our people, and especially our young people, more than mental health and suicide. It is causing enormous grief, devastation, fear, anxiety and worry. In the past two weeks in Cork, it is believed that up to 16 people have died by suicide. A multi-agency response has been organised and a task force is to meet next month to respond to the situation. The rate of suicide in the city and county of Cork is almost twice the national average and Ireland is fourth highest in the table of suicides among those aged between 15 and 19. Mental health campaigner Conor Cusack has called for the establishment of 24-7 emotional well-being centres in response to the carnage caused by this particular crisis. He correctly makes the point that it is not just a Government or health service issue but a whole-of-society issue and that we all share a responsibility to make a change. It is in that spirit that I raise the issue today. We in this House also have a responsibility and we should put party political differences to one side and think outside the box so that we cannot just send the right signals on this issue, but respond effectively and with some degree of substance.

Last week Deputy James Browne tabled a Private Members' motion and in all the contributions there was a consensus on what was needed. Initially, people thought an additional €35 million was to be allocated to the mental health budget. It turns out that it is €15 million and will become €35 million in a full year in 2018 and 2019 but the wrong signal was sent by that message. Collectively, we should resolve to find the other €20 million and spend it on the problem. I do not believe the health service can absorb only €15 million extra for mental health. There are issues with the filling of posts but even if that is the case we can resource non-governmental organisations more, such as Pieta House, Aware and others that provide vital counselling services. The primary care counselling service could be expanded and the income threshold could be raised because, at the moment, it is only applicable to medical card holders and not available to children or teens to the degree that it should be. The Jigsaw programme could be expanded and staffing levels in child and adolescent services are 48% below recommended levels.

This is an enormous issue within the community and I question whether we are sending the right signals to the public. With a bit of a will we could do more. We need a national dialogue but, in the interim, we should find the additional resources for the community-based interventions and non-governmental organisations so they have the help and resources to deal with this crisis.

This is a tragic phenomenon that has affected so many areas around the country, not just young people but older people as well. It is hard to disagree with anybody who says we have to do more in terms of a national conversation to deal with the many problems people have. I talked to people involved in third level and many of the services they offer are unable to cope with the fragility of many young people. Our young people display a remarkable confidence yet they are also very fragile and talk about mental health issues in a way that previous generations never did. The appointment of a Minister dealing specifically with mental health opens the opportunity to have these discussions and the budget of the national suicide prevention office has been doubled since 2011. The total allocation for mental health will be €851.3 million in 2017. That will not bring anybody back but it is an increase of €140 million on what was there before.

Deputy Martin is right to speak of his own area, which he knows better than most. I offer my sympathy and condolences to families affected by this spate of suicides. Over the past few weeks, concerns have been raised by HSE staff and communities about the number of deaths in the Togher and Ballyphehane area of the south side of Cork city. A co-ordinated approach, led by the HSE head of mental health services for Cork and Kerry and involving HSE suicide prevention officers, community workers and HSE psychologists and linking with the voluntary sector, has been initiated and a community meeting took place on 14 November. That group is working very closely with the two schools that are affected and close friends, relatives and school and work colleagues of the deceased have been identified and offered support and counselling, while two individuals have been identified as requiring immediate support and their families have been contacted by the child and adolescent mental health services. The HSE suicide prevention officer has made direct contact with the staff in both schools and established links between schools with community-based services such as Pieta House and the National Educational Psychological Service. The schools have offered immediate one-on-one sessions with any vulnerable student and the suicide crisis assessment nurse in the area has been briefed by the local suicide prevention officer, which means that local GPs will also have the relevant information. A new Jigsaw hub is to be opened in Cork and the national task force on youth mental health has been established, one of whose main aims is to increase awareness, not only of mental health but of the assistance that is also available for young people throughout the country. I have some more information about Cork which I can provide in response to the Deputy's supplementary question.

I appreciate that figures vary and we can all provide statistics but only 51% of community mental health staff in the child and adolescent mental health services are in post. There are huge shortages, though I understand that the service cannot fill those posts. However, there is a lot that can be done in 2017 and we should move to identify those priorities. One of those is counselling. There is a lack of counselling and we could move faster on the ex-quota guidance counsellors on which there has been a start this year.

The primary care counselling service is another and a change could be made to give more access to people on low incomes but who might be above the medical card threshold. I use those merely as illustrations. The Taoiseach could support the non-governmental organisations more which also are intervening with young people. We could do that in 2017. Where there is a will there is a way and I believe every Member of the Oireachtas would support that. It would not have to go to a vote or by way of a motion because we can all do that, but action is needed. People, particularly young people who often can be disconnected from politics or the political system, need positive real signals from us that we can make a difference and intervene with effect, purpose and substance. I put that to the Taoiseach and he might reflect on that. I would like to discuss it again with him and follow through with other party leaders to see what in the short term could be done in 2017 to show people that mental health is the priority above and beyond other issues, and that it is not waiting its place in the queue. There is a real fear and anxiety. The Taoiseach mentioned Ballyphehane and other such areas but it is happening across the country. It is a national issue and we must respond to that fear and anxiety as the country's political leaders. I thank the Taoiseach for his response.

It is accepted that there is anxiety and concern about mental health across the country. That has been expressed by the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, on many occasions, but it is also a fact that for 2017 the amount being allocated to the general mental health area is €140 million more than last year, at €851.3 million. The Deputy is right that this in itself does not deal with the matter but what does deal with it is the extent of assistance and help that is available and it is on that we should concentrate. That is why that community meeting, to which I referred, took place on 14 November. It was agreed at that meeting that safeTALK workshops will take place in the area to explain to young people their value and worth as persons, the assistance that is available for them, that if any person has a little problem or needs to talk to somebody he or she does not need to be afraid to do that and that young people talk about this on a very regular basis. The work department of the HSE and the community are completing the local needs analysis. It is appropriate to say that the task force on mental health set up by the Minister of State is working through the communities to explain to young people that if they have an issue, a concern or an anxiety there is a lot of help available, and that is being channelled through the allocation for 2017. It is a case of having the resources we did not have there before, although perhaps they are not enough but a lot of help is available for a lot of communities. While it will not bring anybody back, it may well prevent somebody from taking that ultimate tragic step.

I am very disappointed with the Taoiseach's answer. There is not a lot of help available. This morning we have an article the Irish Examiner on 16 suicides that have happened in Cork in the past fortnight. Today it is Cork; another day it will be Kerry or Louth or Belfast. All sections and generations are affected by this issue from the very young to the very old in urban and in rural areas. I know the Taoiseach has had personal experience of this. It is at a human cost beyond comprehension. One in seven adults experiences mental health challenges in any given year. In 2015, there were 451 recorded suicides in this State and there were 318 in the North. We all know that under-reporting is widespread, so the real figure across the island may be as high as 1,000. It is also recorded that at least 8,790 citizens presented with self-harm at hospitals in this State.

I will cite a local example. The Ladywell mental health service in Dundalk provides services for most of north Louth. Its staff are extremely dedicated but the rooms they operate from were originally hospital staff quarters and date back to when the Louth Hospital was built 70 years ago. Some of the rooms are closed because of dampness. The maintenance bill alone is a huge drain on the service's resources. Staff numbers have increased but there is no room for them at the Ladywell facility so they are based in Ardee. This means that people in Carlingford who need to access the service have to travel to Ardee, which is entirely unacceptable. That is an example of the service available in that area.

The State's mental health policy, A Vision for Change, is ten years old and ten years on there is still an absence of 27-7 crisis care. Staffing levels are 75% of the recommended number in A Vision for Change and in some cases they are well behind that figure. Staffing in child and adolescent teams is half that which is recommended. A Vision for Change commits the Government to providing 8.24% of the health budget to mental health services. That target has never been met and that pattern is repeated in this year's budget. An allocation of €35 million was announced but the Minister then said that only €15 million in additional funds would be provided for next year. That is an increase of less than 2%. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, is doing her best and we wish her well. All parties and all Independents should work with her but the Taoiseach needs to give her the required resources.

The fact is that this Government has failed like the previous Government to implement the A Vision for Change strategy. Will the Government commit to publishing a time-lined implementation plan - it does not need to do it today but it could do it next week - for the outstanding elements of A Vision for Change?

I do not object to that. A Vision for Change was published with the intent of implementing it in full. That is a challenge but I do not disagree with it. It was not published for the sake of just having another publication.

The Headstrong organisation developed the Jigsaw model and it is now delivered throughout quite a number of counties and districts, including Donegal, Galway, Roscommon, Kerry, Meath, north Fingal, Dublin 15, Tallaght and Clondalkin and it is to be extended to other areas. The Jigsaw unit in Cork will be operational in 2017 and the HSE provides over €9 million there. I have experience of some of these having visited them. They are organised, run and structured by young people and it is amazing the way they connect with each other as young people to help those who have particular challenges or little concerns.

The national task force on mental health, which people had sought for a long time, was set up by the Minister of State in the first 100 days of Government and it deals not only with young people but also with older people. It is made up of a diverse group of 18 leading national figures who are very competent to speak on these matters. They represent a number of different sectors, including the public, private, community and voluntary sectors, and look at the areas of improving emotional literacy in the population; awareness of the services and the supports that are available; accessibility to those services and the supports at different times and in different areas; and the alignment of the services and the supports, which is important, across different providers in terms of public, private, community and voluntary organisations. That task force has held three very productive meetings. It agreed key factors for its work. It has visited front-line services, including a number of the units around the country, where it met the service users, parents and front-line staff. One of the elements of the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee's, commitment is to ensure the voices of young people and children are at the centre of that task force's work. The first in a series of consultations was held with young people aged between 19 and 25 on 17 November. The young people discussed what help and assistance would be useful, what hurts their mental health, what impacts on them, the changes they would like to see the task force deliver, and a report on this will be brought to the task force's December meeting. Each task force member has identified a number of individuals or organisations in their sector that have a depth of expertise and experience of youth mental health issues, services and solutions to form a small community of practice that will be available to those who need it and that will also offer views, ideas and perspectives from their sector to the task force being charged by the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee. That helps to ensure that the work of the task force is informed in the best way possible because it is coming from young people.

I also add that the Government has made money available to the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, for a major development at Portrane at a cost of €40 million plus, which has been awaited for nearly 100 years.

I do not dispute what the Taoiseach said. Jigsaw, which is a great programme; the personal independence payment, PIP; Save Our Sons and Daughters, SOSAD; and Circle of Hope are all great initiatives. Advocates such as Conor Cusack, the Rubberbandits and Bressie have engaged in a lot of consciousness-raising, particularly of stigma. However, it is not enough because they cannot do it alone. A vital part of dealing with the risk of suicide is having adequate services in place throughout the day, seven days a week. A 24/7 intervention service is possible, but the Government needs to make it a priority. If it does not do so, it will not happen. I have been working on this issue for about 25 years, North and South. Many of those who will take their own lives will never be in touch with the mental health service. Given the absence of services, that is hardly surprising. There is almost - I use the term advisedly - a copycat element to suicides in some parishes and communities. My point to the Taoiseach and everybody else is that we must recognise this as a national emergency and put in place measures to tackle it. We need action and an emergency task force to be set up across the State which would work in co-operation with colleagues in the North and local communities. I, therefore, ask the Taoiseach to commit to dealing with this as an emergency and act on it as he would in any other emergency.

I accept the Deputy's earlier remark about A Vision for Change and the setting out of a timeline and a strategy to implement the programme, although that will take some time. However, within our first 100 days in government, the national task force on youth mental health was established. It comprises 18 leading national figures. Its intent is to draw on the concerns and anxieties and the conversation of young people to address what they believe impacts on their mental health and the extent to which they have access to the supports and assistance available. People should understand that if they know somebody with mental health difficulties through their digital connections - Facebook or the other ways in which young people connect with each other - help and assistance are available in a way that they were never available before. The structure being put in place by the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, will be built on in the time ahead. More than €800 million has been allocated for general mental health services in 2017, up €120 million on the previous allocation. While it is never enough, this shows that mental health service provision is a priority for the Government. I accept the remarks made by Deputies Micheál Martin and Gerry Adams. Nobody in this House, of any party and none, disagrees with the concept of a national response to what, sadly, is a tragic phenomenon. The Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, is working exceptionally hard to spread the message throughout the congregations of young people, and older people, that if they have mental health difficulties and are challenged in whatever way, there is a lot of assistance and support available. I hope this will prevent, in whatever numbers, those who might be inclined to take the ultimate tragic step from doing so.