I invite Deputy MacSharry to ask a question on promised legislation.

On pages 65 and 66 of A Programme for a Partnership Government, specific reference is made to mental health and, in particular, the strategic plan for suicide prevention, namely, Connecting for Life. There has been positive coverage in the media today in respect of the reduction in the number of deaths by suicide. This news is certainly welcome but, unfortunately, we are far better at preparing reports and plans than we are at providing appropriate resources. We have seen this with A Vision for Change and we are certainly seeing it with Connecting for Life, the national policy for prevention of suicide in Ireland.

I shall provide two sets of figures that are significant. In 2016, the Government gave €11.8 million to the National Office for Suicide Prevention. The suicide figure for 2016 was 399, not including those deaths the causes of which were undetermined. In the same year, during which there were 187 road death fatalities, the Government gave €74 million to the Road Safety Authority. That is approximately €375,000 per fatality. For half the number of deaths, the Government is giving 12 times the funding towards needed resources. When will the Government embrace the issue of mental health, particularly as it relates to reducing the loss of life through suicide, and provide appropriate resources?

Go raibh maith agat.

What we are giving is pitiful, especially when the biggest and most worrying figure out of the results-----

The Deputy's colleagues are waiting.

-----that were announced today relates to 8,900 cases of self-harm. This is a 19% increase in recent years. Could the Taoiseach answer my questions?

I join Deputy MacSharry in welcoming the reduction in the number of people taking their lives by suicide.

As I said earlier, one death is one too many and we must continue to work towards reducing the number of deaths by suicide further into the future. Tackling suicide is, of course, about a great deal more than the National Office of Suicide Prevention. Funding for mental health has increased from €711 million in 2012 to €853 million now, which is an increase of €140 million. That increase in the last five or six years dwarfs any annual budget of the Road Safety Authority. Specifically, the National Office of Suicide Prevention has seen its budget increase from €4 million in 2012, when the Deputy's party left office, to €11.6 million today, which is a trebling of the budget since my party came to office, initially with the Labour Party and now with Independents. I do not necessarily agree with the mathematical approach the Deputy takes and would not advocate the funding of any agency on a kind of per-death basis. That would not be the right approach.