Appeals were made to the Government today to immediately put in place additional funding to help prevent suicide.
Speaking as a day-long conference on suicide prevention opened in Dublin, Fine Gael's deputy health spokesman Dan Neville said suicide had reached "epidemic" levels in Ireland.
Dan Neville, Fine Gael
He backed calls today from Geoff Day, director of the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) for sustained funding to immediately be put in place.
"Suicide has reached epidemic levels in Ireland with over 500 people tragically taking their own lives every year and it is beyond dispute that a massive increase in funding for suicide prevention is needed as a matter of urgency," Mr Neville said.
"Recent studies show that 15 per cent of people have had a family member who died by suicide and that three out of four people who said they knew somebody who died by suicide."
Mr Neville said a new approach was needed to tackle the issue, including the establishment of early intervention services in the community.
A 15-point plan outlined by his party and Labour also called for the "permissive, harmful attitudes" to alcohol abuse to be challenged.
The director of the NOSP said today that concerns that the number of people who die by suicide is underestimated will be addressed in research currently being undertaken by his office.
The number of people who self-harm in the State is estimated to be around 11,000 each year, but international trends indicate the actual figure could be several times higher.