Mr. John McNamara:

The scientific literature indicates the discussion group model is the way to go, as people speak and are animated. Teagasc has 800 discussion groups and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine plans to incentivise further discussion groups over a three-year period. In the recent past the dairy efficiency programme incentivised discussion groups. Our researchers Thia Hennessy and Dr. Kevin Heanue found it was very economically beneficial to do so. Discussion groups or similar vehicles are also used in other spheres, such as health promotion, to achieve desirable change.

Our submission notes there are approximately 228,000 farmers, 247,000 labour units on farms and approximately 400,000 people living on farms. It is worthwhile pointing out to the committee that self-employment is an issue. The majority of farmers are self-employed, which is fundamentally different from being employed by somebody.

We have provided training on risk assessment with the Health and Safety Authority to approximately 30,000 farmers. The majority of them have been related to Teagasc. We have 44,000 clients but provide the public service to all farmers. Our submission proposes the introduction of incentives to increase the number of people attending half-day courses. Any work we do on health and safety is public and available to private consultants also. Our submission points out the need for further incentives in this area.