Ms Claire McGlynn:

Last year, the IFA ran a successful farmer health check project, as members are all aware, in partnership with Croí and funded by the Department of agriculture. We thank the Department for this funding. We received €210,000 to carry out 1,000 health checks for last year's project. We carried this out very successfully. There was a huge uptake from farmers on the ground. We went back to the Department this year and have been funded with €250,000 for 2,000 health checks, which is doubling the scale of the project for this year. We committed to doing something different with our project. We wanted to meet farmers on the ground. We wanted to go to somewhere where they felt comfortable and where they felt they could engage with us. We set up in various marts throughout the country. This was not just for convenience. It was to meet the farmers there, so they felt comfortable, and where there was respect and trust between us as the IFA and Croí as the nurses.

If we want to continue to reach vulnerable people and vulnerable farmers in these areas, something that we need to consider is whether funding is available to continue this project on a yearly basis. We have met these people on the ground. The recommendations and feedback from farmers have been exceptionally good. We have had a huge uptake. The IFA is very proud to have achieved such a successful project last year. We really look forward to carrying out this project again in the coming weeks.