Mental health was an unspoken subject for many years and psychiatric services had been the Cinderella of the health services, Minister for Health Mary Harney told the Psychiatric Nurses' Association conference in Tralee yesterday.
However, the number of psychiatric patients in institutions had fallen from 12,000 to more than 3,000 in what had been "a marvellous progression", Ms Harney said.
There still had not been enough investment in psychiatric services and there was a lot of catch-up to do, she said.
The health services had to find a mechanism to encourage men, especially, to come forward and talk about pressures so that the high incidence of suicide could be tackled, the Minister said.
This was an issue that the association's chairman, Liam McNamara, said continued to torment society.
Ms Harney said suicide had touched more families now than ever before and it was being spoken of more often.
Suicide was often inexplicable and families could find no explanation.
It was an experience from which families, left feeling guilty, rarely recovered, she said.
It had repercussions not just for the person who took his or her own life, but for the family, friends and extended family who often had health needs as a consequence.
Women were better at talking about their problems than men, and men tended to conceal their problems.
The health services had to ensure that those who were in danger had ways of coming forward, she said.
The minister also said she wanted to see as much autonomy as possible in the regions "and that fewer and fewer people have to come to Dublin for treatment".
Mr McNamara said the issue "continues to torment all of us". He called for special teams to deal with patients presenting with self-harm.
According to the National Suicide Review Group's report there were more than 10,000 cases of deliberate self-harm presenting at Irish hospitals each year, of which 90 per cent were by people under 50 years of age, he said.
"Senior medical experts want special teams to be provided to deal with the estimated 8,500 patients a year who enter A&E having attempted suicide.
"A recent study has found that many of these patients had not received a psychiatric assessment after deliberately self-harming themselves, some repeatedly," he said.