PIPS Suicide Prevention Charity has launched a powerful new campaign following a rise in suicide deaths in the North.

Latest statistics released by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) revealed there were 290 suicide deaths registered in the North in 2024.

The PIPS campaign – 'Too Many Lives Lost To Suicide. Stand with PIPS Charity. Demand Change' – comes as the delivery of the North’s Mental Health Strategy is being severely undermined by budget cuts. PIPS Charity is calling on political leaders and decision-makers to prioritise mental health and fully fund the strategy without delay.

Renée Quinn, CEO of PIPS Charity, said: “We’re not talking about statistics, we’re talking about people: 290 sons, daughters, parents, friends, and neighbours. Each one of those lives mattered. Each one leaves behind a circle of heartbreak that will ripple for years to come.

“Every single one of those 290 lives mattered. These deaths are preventable, but without proper funding, our services are being stretched beyond breaking point. Our community deserves better, it deserves action, we must act now so future generations never ask if we did enough.

“This is not just a policy change, it’s a breaking of promise to the people of Northern Ireland.

“When our communities are crying out for help, when families are grieving, and when frontline services are hanging by a thread, how can we justify this hugely retrograde step?”

“How can we face those who come after us and admit this was enough?

“We owe it to future generations to act boldly — so they never have to wonder if we did enough.”

PIPS Charity is calling on the NI Executive to stop, listen, and rethink:

• Listen to the parents who have lost their children.

• Listen to the young people who are afraid to ask for help.

• Listen to the frontline workers who hold others together while they are falling apart themselves.

“We urge the government to restore full commitment to the Mental Health Strategy, not as a line in a budget, but as a lifeline for our people,” Renée Quinn added.

“Our community deserves better. We owe it to every life lost, and every life still fighting, to get this right. Hope cannot be scaled back.”