Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I completely concur. All those challenges are there, from concerns about the price of inputs, the weather, inspections, prices for their products, overall economic sustainability to all the pressures resulting from a narrative out there that farmers are to blame for many of the challenges. The real risk here for farmers is isolation. They spend all their time on their own and may live in isolation in the evenings. When their work is done, they bring those pressures back home with them. We all know a problem shared is a problem halved. That is why we are looking at developing a number of initiatives around the whole mental space and those in the community helping each other.

I want to expand the On Firm Ground proposal out beyond the farm advisers, who are very trusted, to anybody who has interaction with farmers during the day, from veterinarians to the person who drives the mail van or creamery lorry and goes into that yard. They might be the only person a farmer sees from one day to the next. They should take that opportunity to be trained and become skilled in how to deal with it. A number of locally-led projects and initiatives are also really exciting and interesting.

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