Mr. Pat Griffin:

There is a difference in the types of accidents that happen on different types of farms. I agree we cannot treat the sector as a homogenous group and have projects and approaches that apply to all farmers. We must recognise the differences. What distinguishes Ireland from any other country is that we have a 92% or higher livestock-grassland based agriculture. That has huge risks. Livestock are very unpredictable and there is the issue of working grass and saving grass.

The sector in agriculture that sticks out hugely is dairy farming. Teagasc conducted research some time ago which identified that 58% of fatal accidents happen in dairy farming, which is approximately 17% of the agriculture sector. That rings alarm bells for me, given that the quotas will be abolished on 1 April and many farmers are going into expansionary mode in dairy farming. With the number of replacement heifers and the increased output and intensity in farming, we are facing a difficult situation in trying to help these farmers to protect themselves. If one looks at a map of Ireland that shows the intensity of farming and a map that shows where the fatalities have occurred - we have plotted this - the intensity of farming matches exactly where the fatalities are occurring. That is how we have identified it.

The issues with the deaths are predominantly tractors and machinery. We will put huge focus on that. Over 50% of the deaths are occurring with tractors and machinery. Of the 30 deaths last year, 18 of them involved tractors and machinery. We have a focus on that and we will put our efforts into inspection and discussion groups and working with the farming sector to bring it along in a helpful way.