Dr. David Meredith:

I thank the Deputy. Deputy Kenny highlighted a really interesting aspect to farming. On the one side, we see farming very positively but on the other side, it presents people with serious uncertainty. It is the uncertainty that causes the stress. Farmers are very good at managing what they know, their business and their stock but when we have uncertainty around things such as the weather and finances, these things can combine very quickly to cause fairly serious levels of stress. That is why, with Teagasc, we are very focused on preventing those situations arising. We are focused on identifying practical measures that could be put in place to help farmers to avoid situations where they get into financial difficulty.

The issue raised by Deputy Cooney, which was farmers being self-employed, is really important because for the self-employed, access to social protection and healthcare can be very challenging. Improving access to social protection and healthcare can dramatically increase the health and well-being of farmers. We know this by looking at other countries where that has been put in place, such as France, Germany, Austria and so on. Within that, I include child and elder care. These are very important issues for farm households as well.

Deputy Newsome Drennan asked how we will get farmers to engage. Teagasc ran the "Farmers have Hearts" programme which was a precursor to some of the work the IFA has been leading on during the past few years. That comes down to boots on the ground and people who are nurses being in a position to look at somebody and say that person is very flushed and is displaying symptoms that would indicate he or she needs a health check.

It was all about that personal interaction. That is important. It is great to see that there is continued support for that programme.