Mr. Brian Rohan:

I refer to the Chairman's query about wills. When we organised Embrace Farm, I spoke to the head of agri-strategy in one of the leading banks in the country. I asked if there was anything the bank could do in the case of a farmer being killed and the account being frozen, and I was told that the banks are governed by wills, so if wills were made compulsory, it would be helpful in that situation.

In regard to legislation, had the health and safety inspector visited our farm the morning of Dad's accident, we would have been passed as fit for purpose, because our farm was always a safe farm and Dad was always safety-conscious. One of the last things he did before he was killed was to change the PTO cover on a slurry tank. I said to him that it was not that bad but he said it was damaged and that if he lent it to anybody and something happened, he could not forgive himself. It goes to show what can happen no matter how careful one is. Farmers must take responsibility for their actions. When Dad was working on the machine, he probably should have put more safety standards in place for it.

It must start with education. We must start with children at national school and educate them, whether through books, videos or otherwise, and work up. As one of the contributors said earlier, all this farm safety could be a generational change.