Mr. Brian Rohan:

I was looking at it from the widow's point of view, who was not able to do it.

As regards inspections, in December about four years ago I had a Bord Bia audit on a Monday, which was planned. In fairness, he was trying to come for about a month, so we picked that Monday. He arrived and the job was done and dusted in about two hours. It was to make sure that the food I am producing is quality assured. On the Tuesday, I had an unannounced health and safety inspection. The guy arrived and I told him I had no objection to the inspection but asked if there was any chance it could be done on the following day. The cattle were out and we were stripping the silage pit for the first time. I told him we were trying to get the cattle in, that I wanted to get the pit stripped and get them in. I asked him if he could come back the following day or the next day. "No", he said, "it has to be done today and will only take an hour". We downed tools and two and a half hours later he was in and out and then gone. We had to leave the cattle out for another day. We got them in on the following day and at 2.15 p.m., when we were having a cup of tea after dinner, the telephone rang. It was an official from the Department to tell me that he was there for a full cross-compliance inspection. He had been there two years previously for another full cross-compliance inspection. I passed both times, by the way. Messing with him, I told him politely to eff off, but I went down the yard and met him. We started it at 2.30 p.m. and he was there until 6.30 p.m. He was back the next day from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. That was four days of my week gone. I just had to drop tools.

That type of pressure should not be put on any farmer. It was a very busy time of the year. We had to do it and we have no choice but to do it. I spoke to somebody in the HSA. We are friendly with one of the senior inspectors and he sits on our board. I told him I had the inspection and asked if, after a fatal farm accident, there was not a signpost put up that there has been a fatal accident on the farm. He said, "I am surprised you had it, but I am not surprised you passed it". That is how he put it. He knows me and he knows the farm. The boardroom for Embrace FARM was our kitchen table until the Covid pandemic. Now, like everybody else, we are on Zoom.

Those types of pressures, added to perhaps taking bad prices, being hit with bad weather and the like can really get to farmers. The departmental official who was doing the inspection told me that he often calls to farmers and said that he would know by them when they open their doors that they are not in a good place mentally. However, he said that inspectors are told to go in unannounced and carry out the inspection. In one particular case, he said, "I walked away from him and told him I would call back another day", and he went away. The farmer was on his mind. The farmer was lucky he had that inspector because I met another unhelpful inspector at another time and I would not like him calling into anybody who was in a bad mental state because he would not do any good for him.