David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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71. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures that have been put in place by his Department to support the mental health and wellbeing of farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53221/22]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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This question concerns the mental health of farmers. It flows from some recent reports that found that almost one in four farmers was considered to be at risk of suicide, 50% experienced moderate to extreme depression and 40% experienced moderate to extreme stress and severe anxiety. I know the Minister of State is very concerned about this issue. I would like to know what he is doing about it and what supports he needs to address the problem.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this critically important issue. As Minister of State with special responsibility for farm safety, I have always considered farmers' mental health and wellbeing to be inextricably linked to farm safety. We know that a farmer is seven times more likely to lose his or her life in a workplace incident on his or her farm than in any other profession in the country, making it by far the most dangerous workplace in the country.

In that context, the results of the recent University College Dublin, UCD-HSE study are particularly stark when we look at their research project into farmers and developing a suicide prevention intervention for farmers in Ireland. That study found that between 2014 and 2019, in five of those six years, more farmers died by suicide than they did in farm safety incidents. That puts in context exactly the challenge with which we are dealing. The extent of the challenge we face in the area of supporting farmers whose mental health is suffering is really clear. Anecdotally, it is very much the case, having dealt with a number of different groups and organisations and with farmers, that the challenge has been in identifying where farmers are struggling and signposting the supports to them. It is not that the supports are not there. We have to do better in identifying where farmers are struggling, however, and identify where they pull back from society and are not having that social interaction or where they maybe feel things are getting on top of them. We are taking a number of measures in my Department and working with colleagues and other Departments as well.

Government has placed a huge priority on farmer mental health and farm safety. We have a €2.5 million allocation in this year's budget. I have a number of initiatives that support increased awareness around the importance of mental health and helping farmers. I was very happy to launch and now look to expand the On Firm Ground proposal, in partnership with the Department of Health, the HSE and the Men’s Development Network, which sees farm advisers who are very trusted in the farm set-up being trained in identifying and signposting the supports for farmers. There are other initiatives as well, which I will come to in my supplementary response.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I give credit to him for his huge interest in this very important area. Does the Minister of State agree with me that loneliness is a huge issue at the moment among the farming community? Farmers are on their own much of the time during the day. They are under much stress, and many changes in policies are also happening. Much bureaucracy and red tape is coming at farmers with many forms to be filled out and so on. If they get it wrong, then they do not get payments. There is misrepresentation in the media with farmers being blamed for climate change, even though the farmers I met really want to save the environment.

Does the Minister of State agree that these are many of the issues and that there is much worry, stress and anxiety? Can we ensure that when people deal with and work with farmers, they treat them with respect and keep in mind that these issues are out there? As the Minister of State said, more farmers lose their lives through suicide than through farm accidents, which is a really horrific statement when we think about the families and people who are involved. I thank the Minister of State for his work in this area.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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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.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I agree with everything the Minister of State said in respect of engagement and help and support. Has he engaged with HSE counselling services where farmers are concerned? This is bearing in mind that he said farmers very often work long hours. They come in very late at night when their families have maybe gone to bed. They might see nobody from one end of the day to the next. I would really urge the Minister of State to take as much action as he can. I am sure colleagues here will support him in this work, which is hugely important. The counselling services in the HSE are something at which we should also have a look.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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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.