William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I welcome all our guests today and especially welcome Ms Rohan. I know Brian would have loved to be here today as well. You are from Laois the same as I am. I remember well getting a phone call about Brian's father Liam. I was young at the time. I clearly remember saying it could not be him because he was so safe. He was so tidy on his farm. He was just one of that type of people and he would be the last person you would expect it to happen to. Leaving that aside, on behalf of farmers out there and on my own behalf, I thank you for all the good work you are doing. Embrace FARM is creating great awareness and giving comfort to families. I go to the remembrance service and see the comfort and the sadness in people's eyes going up to put the name of their loved one on the list. I see the sadness going down and the relief coming back. I acknowledge the great work you do and long may you keep it on. It is not just for accidents. I was really taken aback to see my friend Tom Fingleton's wife there with a little baby. That was tough. I knew Tom. He died from an illness that caught him very quick. His wife was expecting a baby. The first time I saw her was with the little baby. That is really tough.

I want to thank all our guests for every little thing they do. Every little bit of information or advertisement that the insurance companies do is a help to everybody. It is all change. When I was a little fella, I got tossed with a bull. I was lucky. I was somersaulted. That is how naïve I was. That is neither here nor there. The witnesses are in a position to call out things that they know are causing accidents.

It is difficult for us. We are chastised. I am not afraid to say I feel this is causing a lot of accidents. I have stopped it myself in the van and the tractor. I do not know what we can do. I am more afraid of young lads in tractors than I am at their age of driving. Every young fella is driving. It is a thing where fathers let their kids up and shove them in beside them, and they might be only ten or whatever. I am just making the point that we all wanted to drive as kids. I thank the witnesses for coming in today.