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

We are working with the HSE and working closely with Department of Health and other State agencies such as the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, where we have a number of initiatives and literature on that area as well. We are also funding further research. The Dublin City University, DCU, farm health study has a very important role to expand our information and knowledge in this area. In the locally-led initiatives, I have supported funding of €1.8 million to eight projects around the country, four of which are directly linked with the area of mental health. The farm accident trauma response group from Embrace FARM does such great work. The mid-Leinster farmer wellbeing project is working on peer-to-peer support, which is a key element to this.

The Government cannot fix everything but we can support communities to help themselves and make sure they identify those people in isolation who are most at risk. I refer to the farmers' health and wellbeing alliance for FarmConnect and the farm succession wellbeing project in Mayo. The area of succession is another major cause of stress for farmers and in farm families in respect of how they deal with that. Those locally led initiatives are giving us very good feedback on how we handle these issues and support farmers better in the future.

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