Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)

I am also very glad with regard to farm safety. Farm safety is very important to all of us and we have an additional 17% of funding which will bring us to €3 million. This Government takes very seriously the issue of farm accidents and farm deaths. I am very glad to be able to support an AgriAware scheme for schools. We have people going out to marts dealing with farmers, not just on their physical health but also their mental health, and having a little chat with them. A lot of our farmers are working predominantly alone. It can be a lonesome way of life with hard work and hard living. With those schemes, through the IFA and other organisations, we are outreaching to farmers, meeting them and taking them through health checks. We have additional funding in this budget.

There are an awful lot of positive aspects to this budget. There are an awful lot of serious issues in this budget that, to be honest-----

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