Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Embrace FARM has significant knowledge of the experience of farm families in the aftermath of fatal incidents, as well as of practical measures such as those highlighted by the Deputy. It has raised these issues previously with my Department and that actually brought about a change whereby we put in place a dedicated point of contact within the Department for such families to deal with. There is nothing much more upsetting for a family member, such as the wife of a deceased farmer, than to have to explain every time he or she phones the Department with a query regarding a farm payment, a herd number or something else that the person whose name is on the herd number is no longer with us as a result of a farm safety incident. My officials are always readily available. We use the likes of the ploughing championships and the roadshows where schemes are launched as examples of this. One of the proposals put forward by Embrace FARM and taken up by the Department is that one member of staff in the Department is assigned to a family in this situation. That staff member deals with every query from the family so that they do not have to tell the story again and again. These are practical measures that are really important, but I am open to any further suggestions. Obviously, my focus is predominantly on preventing incidents from happening, but we must be mindful that they continue to happen and, where they do, my Department wishes to be sensitive and to work with the grieving families in dealing with all the practicalities in the aftermath of such an incident. I think we are doing that better now than we did initially. In recent years, those changes have made a good difference. I am always open to considering new proposals into the future.