Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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10. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the efforts being made by his Department to prioritise improvements in farmer mental health and well-being supports, in particular supports for rural mental health programmes, recognising the unique challenges faced by those in the sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13798/25]

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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What efforts are being made by the Minister's Department to prioritise improvements in farmers' mental health and well-being supports, in particular supports for rural mental health programmes, recognising the unique challenges faced by those in the sector, and will the Minister make a statement on the matter?

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this question on such an important issue. Farm safety, health and well-being is a priority for this Government. There is a specific focus in the programme for Government on farmer mental health and well-being, recognising the unique challenges faced by the sector.

I secured dedicated funding of €2.5 million in budget 2025 to build on previous efforts of my Department to improve the safety, health and well-being of our farming community. This funding will be used for the continuation of existing initiatives and to develop new initiatives for 2025.

One example of such initiatives is the farmers' physical and mental health awareness programme On Feirm Ground 2, which my Department is cofunding along with the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health. This expanded programme is providing training for agricultural advisers, vets, Department staff, members of farming organisations and other agricultural professionals and service providers, to signpost farmers to health and well-being supports.

Last year, I supported 20 farm safety, health and well-being projects under an open call. More than half of these projects focused on farmers' mental health and well-being and provided a range of approaches to supporting farmers. Projects that engaged directly with farmers through physical and mental health checks proved particularly successful.

I am also supporting research into farmer mental health. Examples of projects include the DCU-led FarMHealth research project, which examined farmers' mental health literacy and help-seeking behaviour to inform the development of an educational mental health intervention for farmers, and the UCD-led Farming Minds: Developing evidence-based interventions to enhance farmer mental health.

My Department distributed the Health and Safety Authority's farm safety partnership booklet, Farmers' Health and Wellbeing - A Guide to Staying Healthy While Farming, in the BISS packs in 2023. This year, the HSA's Guidance on Managing Fatigue with Farm Work booklet will be distributed in the 2025 packs.

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, Minister of State with responsibility for farm safety, health and well-being, and Department officials are currently developing further initiatives for this year, which will be announced in due course.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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A recent study - and there have been a number of them - by agri-mental health group Farming Minds in UCD found that 23.4% of farmers are considered at risk of suicide, 50% of farmers are currently experiencing moderate to extremely severe depression and almost 40% of farmers are experiencing moderate to extremely severe anxiety and stress. That report and other reports have been produced over recent years and highlight this, but other health areas need to be highlighted as well. I came across someone recently in their early 30s who suffered a severe stroke, so this is about not just mental health but also other health issues. We need to make sure we get the information out there but also work for farmers, working in particular with the farming organisations - the IFA, Macra na Feirme, the ICMSA and all the others - on getting information out there. The big issue with people being at risk in farming is that they work alone for quite considerable periods.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is dead right. The work is isolated in nature. I know that from my time farming at home. The days were long. If I was in the tractor on my own all day doing a job or out tending to fencing or to livestock, I could have too much time with my own thoughts, I used to find. It does not happen in politics much; we tend to be much busier and kept well distracted. I am being flippant about what is a very serious issue here. The truth is that there is that isolated nature of the challenges, and if that person tends to live on their own or does not have the family support network, it can be an even greater risk. In many respects what we are talking about here is the people themselves identifying that they are under pressure. They might not realise they are under as much pressure. They might not realise that the fact that they have not been sleeping right or that they are not eating right has all contributed to this buildup. A lot of what On Feirm Ground is about is training those people who engage with farmers or who meet them such as their advisers, the vets and the feed merchants who come into the yard. When they identify that the farmer is struggling, they can signpost supports that exist for them.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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It is important to highlight this issue, as I said, with the farming organisations but also to work with other groups in rural areas. There was a time when if you were, say, a dairy farmer, you went to the creamery and you met others at IFA meetings, Macra meetings or ICMSA meetings. However, a lot of meetings now are held on Zoom so there is not the same social contact. That is why it is important that we work together to try to provide support, making sure that people do not feel alone, that if they do have challenges, there is someone there to give them help and support. We need to do a lot of work on this over the next few months, in particular because of the price reduction in a number of areas. It is important that this support be given.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Exactly. There are a lot of pressures in farming from price to weather to rushing around and all those different elements. The pandemic really brought home the fact that the lockdown took away the key social engagements that farmers had that they really depended upon such as the trip to the mart, maybe the trip to mass or religious service at the weekend, a trip to a pub or a trip to a local sporting event. That was the only break away from the farm where they could meet other farmers and share their experiences and concerns, whether it was a local farm organisation branch meeting or whatever, and realise that the pressures they were feeling were the same as everybody else's. The area of mental health is directly linked to farm safety.

As regards the fund available to the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, this year, I know he is looking at a number of projects there around engagement and social isolation and to support farmers in their mental health. I will absolutely support those endeavours because this is key. The heart of Food Vision 2030 is about minding our farmers as our primary producers.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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We have two supplementary questions.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Has the Minister considered using the mart and the farm walks as a platform for reaching out to farmers and delivering services or access there? He almost referred to it earlier when he spoke about people working very much on their own for days, maybe even for several weeks, when the silage campaign is on or during lambing. People can be very much isolated when they are farming, yet we see people will gather together at the mart. After the pandemic, it was very evident because even though the online option was available, people still gathered in to the mart. The Alzheimer Society or maybe the Garda often use the mart as a platform for meeting with farmers. Similarly, people are gathering together on the farm walks and they are obvious platforms that would be available. Has the Minister considered using those platforms to deliver support?

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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As a proud rural TD representing the constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny, I am acutely aware that there are many stresses for farmers a lot of which are outside their control. As a result, farmers are considered a group at risk of developing mental health issues. With the pressures of farming increasing, one in four farmers faces burnout. These are all over my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny in the likes of Glynn, Ballymurphy, Kilmaganny, Bennettsbridge, Drummin, Ballyragget, Stonyford and Hugginstown. Last year DCU's farm health project and Teagasc exposed worrying trends in farmers' mental health. In a survey of 351 farmers, 71% said they would seek professional help if they were experiencing a mental health challenge but 54% do not know how to contact the local mental health clinic.

Some 25% do not know where to go to receive health services, 24% do not know how to get the number of a suicide prevention hotline and 22% do not know where to get information about mental illness. Farmers feel that the mental health supports that are available are often unsuitable for farmers. As the Minister will know, it is a specific measure in the programme for Government to put a specific focus on farmers' mental health and well-being. I look forward to working with the Minister on implementing those ambitions.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies Moynihan and Cleere for raising very valid points. To respond to Deputy Moynihan first, I am looking at every engagement farmers have whether on the farm when someone like the AI man, the milk collection, the vet or the farm adviser visits or on the knowledge transfer walks. The Deputy talked about farm walks. Knowledge transfer groups are a great way of addressing farmer mental health and well-being. I take great heart from having seen farmer mental health and well-being becoming more prominent at the agriculture shows I have attended in recent years. There are now stands at those shows. This is not about having a day when farmers go to talk about their mental health; it is about incorporating it into everything they do. That is key.

The same point applies in responding to Deputy Cleere's contribution. On Feirm Ground is about advisers identifying farmers who are showing signs of distress. These are farmers the advisers know well who, in conversation when leaning over a gate, might say they are not feeling right. It is about equipping people like vets and officials in my Department to signpost supports to farmers because not knowing where to go can be a challenge. It is about making sure they are well equipped to point out and signpost those supports.