The rate of suicide among Travellers in the Republic is three times that of the population as a whole, the conference heard.
Mary Rose Walker, a social worker with Wicklow County Council, said she had reviewed statistics for suicides among the Travelling community and found 74 had been recorded between the years 2000 and 2006.
She said 90 per cent of them were among men and 65 per cent of the deaths were in Travellers under 30 years of age. Asked why the rates were increasing during the period looked at, she said Travellers still faced a lot of hostility in society and many of the young men - unlike their fathers - had nothing to do.
Delegates also heard that the number of suicides recorded in Northern Ireland had almost doubled to 291 between 2004 and 2006. Dr Michael McBride, chief medical officer for Northern Ireland, said the problem couldn't be tackled overnight but everyone was in agreement much more needed to be done to address the rising suicide levels.
Mike Tomlinson, head of the school of sociology, social policy and social work at Queens University, Belfast, spoke about the theory that suicides had increased in the north simply because the troubles had ended.
He said there was evidence from some other countries that suicide rates remained low during times of war and conflict - though not in all. Rates had, for example, risen in Serbia during the Balkan conflict.
But he said there was some evidence that the NI conflict contributed to and exacerbated the social factors and circumstances known to be associated with poor mental health.