Ms Teresa Roche:

Substance abuse is probably one of the main issues we hear about. Our farmer health check programme has highlighted the need for the most vulnerable group, as we have talked about, in agriculture. The programme is delivered by professional nurses from Croí. We were able to highlight any needs relating to substance abuse, whether alcohol or drugs, or domestic violence. We do a full mental health and well-being assessment as part of our criteria. We have a consent form and then a mental health assessment. In our assessment we are able to acknowledge any issues that are brought up. We have a referral service regarding any needs required by the individual and we follow them up within a month. We often follow them up twice or three times. It is not just a health check but a whole well-being check of the farmer. That goes for women as well.

I am also chair of the health and vulnerable group for the Health and Safety Authority. We are able to highlight women's health in agriculture in that. Teagasc also deals with this, and Dr. Meredith will be able to bring this forward. We are partners also with Teagasc in the context of Coping with the Pressures of Farming. This is something that Teagasc has worked on very closely with the IFA. We modeled our farmer health check programme in partnership with the HSE and Teagasc. Everything is set up so that we are not working in silo but in partnership with other organisations that are all working in the best interest of the most vulnerable people.

We cannot forget the young farmers out there. As was mentioned, this is a major issue. We want to be able to say that we are open to discussion on gambling, drug abuse and domestic violence. These farmer health check programmes need to be extended further. We need an umbrella resource or a Department working in partnership with all the other multisectors and stakeholders in place so that we can give the best services through counselling and well-being support, all under one umbrella. Funding just coming into one situation is not enough. We do not have access to enough services. People are coming forward and telling us their issues but it is all about us identifying the issues through changing behaviours and attitudes. We are meeting and acknowledging them and doing our best under the funding we have been given but we know there is a major issue out there. We are acknowledging it and we want the support of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, who has been a great support to farm safety. This is his portfolio and he is very interested in working with us on this.