Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Ian Howley, an editor of the web service Spunout. ie, said Bertie Ahern's comments would have been very upsetting for anyone affected by suicide.

"It's remarkable for the leader of our country to think that it is OK to make a remark like that, " said Howley, who himself made a number of suicide attempts during his youth.

"It's just wrong. The way he said it, it sounded like he was saying that if anyone has a problem or is unhappy with the way things are then they might as well commit suicide. I don't think he meant to say what he did. I don't think he realised what he was saying. Suicide is such a high-profile topic now and so many lives are shattered because of it."

Howley said Ahern should make a practical effort to show remorse for his comments. "If he is really sorry for what he said, then I think he should start giving us his support and get involved with Spunout. ie, " he said.

"Now is the time when we really need him to get behind us. We have no more funding for our television ad so we've had to withdraw it. It would make a very public statement about his attitude towards suicide if he was to help us now."

According to Howley, the TV ad made a huge difference to the numbers of young people logging onto the web service for help. "In the space of those two weeks we've changed a lot of lives, " he said. "All you have to do is go onto the forums on the website to see how many people have already come to us looking for help.

We've had people come back to us to say that the website changed their minds about suicide."

Howley said that even though the site is aimed at 16- to 24-year-olds, it was attracting a vast age range with people between 13-30 logging on. "We need to keep the momentum going, " he said. "We need to get that ad back on TV. The National Office of Suicide Prevention has no more money to give us and neither does the HSE. It's time for An Taoiseach to help us out."