Mr. Eddie Downey:

I thank the Chairman and other Senators. I have a written submission but I will try to go through it as quickly as possible. It is excellent that this committee has met today to discuss farm safety, which is a major issue for us. I have already made it our main issue within the IFA for 2015. Throughout the year we will be making farm safety a top priority.

Ms Maura Canning is the chairperson of our farm family and social affairs committee. Her committee is charged with looking after this whole area and ensuring it is kept in farmers' minds as much as possible, and in public awareness, to ensure that we can make farms safe. I have met every one of the officers within the organisation and have told them quite clearly that there must be a farm safety element in every presentation made at meetings. It is absolutely essential to get that message out there.

Last year was an absolute disaster from farmers’ point of view with 29 people losing their lives on family farms. We have to think of that as 29 farm families sitting down to Christmas dinner with an empty chair at the table. We cannot contemplate this high rate of farm fatalities happening again. It is the highest rate in years and is a significant problem. One also has to take into account the effect on those who survived a farm accident, their families and the way they have to change their business.

There is a huge responsibility on us all, particularly those involved in the agribusiness sector, to deal with this. We need to change attitudes and mindsets to make farming safer. We have to start to think “Safety First” through work practices, awareness and to reduce risks as we farm. One typical example of that is that if one has a tractor with the loader up and a spike on it, it is a lethal weapon. If the loader is dropped to the ground with the points down, it is safe. A tractor with the handbrake off is a lethal weapon. If it is pulled, it is safe. These are simple measures which we can do and we need to raise awareness of these.

That is why we put forward our Save Lives, Think Safety campaign across the country. We have issued 95,000 calendars with the farm safety message across them. Every day, one is reminded of the need for farm safety. We are distributing farm safety pens, leaflets and tractor stickers with every membership package. Every month, we publish a farm safety message in the IFA page in the Irish Farmers’ Journal. We are also working with the co-ops and agribusinesses to get the message across, along with the Acorn Group, which represents 11 major grain, feed and fertiliser merchants, which has promotional posters for farm safety on its trucks, fertiliser bags and other packaging. We have been heavily involved in farm safety day. This year 21 July is designated as farm safety day.

While raising awareness and education on the matter is the best way forward, risk assessment is critically important on every farm and we want every family involved in this. It is not just good enough for a farmer to tick the boxes. We want the mothers involved because they will also show family members the dangers on the farm. If we get a collective family effort, we can raise more awareness and resolve this problem. Teagasc research shows that age and behaviour are the main risks in farm safety. We have to target information through an education campaign in which farmers take responsibility for their own farms. Every farmer knows a farm is a dangerous place but they do not think their own farm is dangerous. We need to change that attitude and to get them to think defensively. They need to think that when they leave the kitchen in the morning that their objective, along with every other person working on the farm, is not necessarily to get the work done but to get back to the kitchen safely that evening. That is why they need to farm and be defensive towards safety.

Internationally, regulations, sanctions and legislation for farm safety have not worked, have had limited impact and have not changed behaviour. We are opposed to this whole area as we believe bringing in cross-compliance to the single farm payment would actually increase stress levels on farmers. If a health and safety inspector came onto my farm, as they have done in the past, and fined or sanctioned me, then they are an enemy. What we need, as has happened in the past, is for the inspector to help farmers make farms safer. We need advocates to resolve this problem, not people who penalise farmers.

We believe that linking it to the single farm payment would lead to increased stress, which leads to ill health, a tendency to take short cuts, and accidents. This debate on the single farm payment and sanctions is an unnecessary distraction and needs to be taken out of the system. It is not a solution to the problem and we need to move forward from that.

The evidence is there. If we want to change something, we need people who are willing to change. Am I out of time?