Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter. As we move into the busiest season in the agricultural calendar, we hope the weather will improve to allow harvesting. There is always concern about farm safety. Some farms stakeholders, the Agri Aware group and others, announced an initiative on education and safety on farms this week. Advertisements have just begun and we need a co-ordinated initiative. It is vitally important that everyone involved, directly or indirectly, in the agriculture industry raises the issue of farm safety. Over the past number of years, the farm has been an area of great risk and hidden danger.

Historically, people were involved in farming from a young age. Children of the family, those who were visiting and those who have been farming since childhood take chances on farm safety. We need to be clear that danger is highlighted. With livestock and machinery on farms, even with the greatest prevention there is always liability. It is important that this happens at primary and secondary schools because children love to get onto farms. Practices on farms of 25 and 30 years ago involved major risk and have since been discontinued. We need to be mindful of danger and to raise awareness at every level. I ask the Minister and the Government to ensure there is an adequate budget for farm safety campaigns over coming weeks.

Statistics on workplace deaths show that 2011 was a serious year. With the best will in the world, the trend seems to be going backwards. In discussion with the occupational health aspects of agriculture, the Health and Safety Authority listed the names of people who have died on farms. There is a terrible toll on the families and those directly involved and anyone involved in the accident. I ask the Minister to outline what funding is available and what farm safety initiatives will be undertaken by the Department and by the Government this year.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this issue and this is not the first time we have discussed it because it is a continuing source of real concern. Farming remains the most dangerous occupation in Ireland. Last year saw a total of 22 farm-related fatalities and 6,673 reported non-fatal injuries. These injuries and fatalities are caused in a number of ways in particular with the use of farm machinery such as tractors and as a result of dealing with livestock.

While the Health and Safety Authority has primary responsibility for securing health and safety at work, particularly from an enforcement point of view, everyone has a responsibility to do what they can to improve the situation. My Department is represented on the farm safety partnership advisory committee which is a sub-committee of the Health and Safety Authority. The committee advises the board on the direction the HSA should take with regard to farm safety. My Department is very strongly committed to promoting farm safety in collaboration with the Health and Safety Authority and I have spoken at a number of its conferences. The Department has taken a number of steps over the past year in tandem with some of the other State and industry organisations to both raise awareness of the problem and to educate farmers and their families on the realities and the dangers of working in this industry.

The latest measure was to send a farm safety message to over 130,000 farmers. This was included in the single payment scheme application pack this year which means that every farmer received a reminder of the importance of farming safely. This is a joint initiative between the Department, the Health and Safety Authority and the farm safety partnership committee.

My colleague the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, recently launched the farm and countryside safety project, which is located in the family farm at Dublin Zoo. It is supported by Agri Aware in conjunction with FBD Insurance, the IFA and ESB Networks. This programme will help to educate children about farm safety, as they comprise one of the groups most at risk on farms today. The project will culminate with the production of a 2013 calendar featuring selected images of safety messages drawn or painted by children. The calendar will be sent to all primary schools in the country.

Other actions by my Department include the provision to all farms of a code of practice aimed at reducing farm accidents; the inclusion of health and safety guidelines in all building specifications drawn up by my Department; the inclusion of farm safety in all REPS training courses; a dedicated area on the Department's website outlining the requirements on farm safety and practical advice on safety on farms. My Department has asked Teagasc to include a farm safety element in the dairy discussion groups participating in the Dairy Efficiency Programme 2010-2012 and the Department issues regular press releases.

Our actions to date are not enough because there are still far too many accidents and tragedies on farms which have destroyed families. We need to change the mindset of farm families as regards the operation of their farms and machinery and the management of livestock. There has been in some cases a careless attitude towards safety which at times has tragic consequences. Farming will always be a dangerous occupation, as is fishing. We have an obligation to reduce the likelihood of serious accidents and fatalities by constantly reminding farming people of the dangers.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. He is correct that more needs to be done. We are all aware of the devastation inflicted on families by such incidents. The most important safety aspects relate to children on farms. They are often on farms during the summer and it may be that parents may relax their attention to safety. The experienced farmer who may be working for many years may also take the eye off the ball with regard to safety. The Department needs to issue constant reminders of the importance of safe farming. Agriculture is one of the most dangerous occupations. Perhaps there should be one single agency to oversee safety and have ultimate responsibility for farm safety. This agency could be under the auspices of the Health and Safety Authority or the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will consider the Deputy's suggestion. However, I am not convinced it will be as easy as simply taking responsibility away from the Health and Safety Authority because that body has responsibility for safety in the workplace generally and it has experience in this regard. The problem with farms is that they are a workplace but they are also a home, a playground, a place where family members and their friends hang around. Seasonal workers and neighbours are present on farms. It is, therefore, very difficult to apply the same kind of workplace enforcement of standards to farms as to factories and manufacturing units. This is what makes farming such a complex industry and it is the same in the case of the fishing sector but farming is much closer to the home. It is also the case that farm family members become involved with farm duties at a much younger age and they may be using very large and powerful machinery and this would never be the practice in other sectors. Likewise, very elderly people operate machinery and these are often past the age of retirement if they worked in other sectors.

Safety on farms is a more complex management exercise. The number of Health and Safety Authority farm inspections have been increased significantly this year. The issue of farm safety requires a combined approach on the part of farming organisations, private sector companies involved in farming such as FBD Insurance. The farm safety partnership advisory committee is comprised of many different entities such as Irish Rural Link, the agricultural contractors, Macra na Feirme, IFA, ICMSA, Teagasc. The suggestion that there should be a single departmental unit will not necessarily change the mindset on the farms unless a way can be found to get the message across to them more effectively. I will take on board the Deputy's suggestion and I will discuss it with my officials to see if the situation can be improved.

Just like dealing with road safety, one's success is measured, unfortunately, in the tragic statistics and we need to measure the effectiveness of the current programmes in the same way. This is unfortunate but it is the only measurement we can make.