Mental Health Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

Yes, but I do not have it and the Department does not have it either. I want to be clear on that.
To revert to the issue at hand, I want to touch on something I did last September about which I am trying to get the word out as much as possible. In Ireland at the moment, four out of every five suicides are male. It is important to acknowledge that between 2000 and 2021 Ireland saw a 28% reduction in the suicide rate, falling from 12.9 per 100,000 in 2000 to 9.2 per 100,000 in 2021. Currently our figures are at nine per 100,000. I am not playing politics here but am just pointing to facts. I met recently with my counterpart in Northern Ireland and the figures there, believe it or not, are 13.5 per 100,000. We have made progress, for want of a better word, even though one death is one too many. We have seen a reduction in the numbers and the preliminary figures for 2023 are the most positive I have seen to date, notwithstanding the fact that of every five suicides, four are men.
On 1 September last I launched free counselling supports for men across the country. I worked on these supports with the Traveller community in Exchange House in Dublin, the retired veterans association called ONE, the Irish Farmers Association and the College of General Practitioners. When a man who has been on the farm all day or working all day comes home in the evening, he is not going to hop into the shower and then drive into Tralee, Dungarvan or wherever to get counselling supports. He can self-refer to Connect Counselling from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., seven nights a week. He can simply pick up the phone and have six counselling sessions. When I finish here I will make sure all of the information on this is sent to Deputy Daly.
The most important thing I can say today to any man listening out there is that if, having received counselling supports, he needs to be seen by somebody, that can happen as well. Two thirds of all counselling supports today will be accessed by women. Women are much quicker to sit down, have a cup of coffee or tea and talk to each other. Information is available at yourmentalhealth.ie/men. For the first time ever there are free counselling supports available in this country and the fact that men can access those supports at their own kitchen table is so important. An awful lot of people will not go into a clinical setting for counselling supports. Connect Counselling is providing the supports for us and the take-up is very good. I am doing my best to work within the system. We have run and continue to run ads in the cinemas to make men aware that there are supports out there. I thank Deputy Daly for raising this issue and will send further details on those free counselling supports to him. It would be fantastic if every constituency office would spread the word. I am sorry for going over time.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21