Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. It is like the house of a thousand welcomes because I would like to welcome the people in the Visitors Gallery also, particularly my good friend, John McNamara, who is literally from the next parish from me, albeit in County Kilkenny, across the border from Tipperary. I welcome all the visitors.

Sometimes people ask what Senators, and the Seanad, do. This is a good example of what the Seanad does. I commend and congratulate Senator O'Donovan and all the members of the group who worked on this report. I am a member of the agriculture committee but I had no direct involvement with it. I commend also all of those who made submissions and contributed in other ways. The farm is a lonely place for many people. In many cases farmers work on his own. They may work with a young son or daughter but, in the main they work on their own. They work long hours, in difficult conditions, and, through no fault of their own, they work with machinery that may not always be up to scratch. Accidents happen in seconds. Nobody sets out to work in the morning to have an accident but the statistics are frightening. Six per cent of the working population are farmers or work in the farm area, yet between 35% and 45% of workplace fatalities happen inside the farm gate.We have to do something about this. We cannot allow a situation to continue where in 2014, some 30 of the 55 workplace accidents happened on farms. That was the premise on which the committee, headed by Senator Denis O'Donovan, started out. It is fair to say that the recommendations from the committee are reasonable, straightforward and do not require a great deal of money, but they require goodwill and momentum from the Minister to ensure they are implemented.

My father was a horse breeder. He was within seconds of almost losing his life from a kick from a horse while saddling it in a stable. The mare was old and had never done anything "quare", to use that word, in her life. She flicked around and hit him on the chest. Luckily, he survived it. Many others were not so lucky. These are the people we have to try to help.

The recommendations from the committee have been outlined by some of the speakers already but I will touch on one or two of them. The first recommendation is on education. In the broadest sense, that means health and safety courses, education in schools for children of farmers, education through third level, peer learning and priorities of farm safety at primary and second level. As soon as children can walk, they are out helping on the farm. There is no point in telling them about safety issues when they reach 19 and 20 years of age and have developed bad habits. When they get up on a tractor, they should carry out the safety checks. Also, they should ensure that whatever machinery they are working with is checked before using it. In the main, young men love tractors and love getting up on them and driving down the road even though they can only drive at 35 mph but think they are driving at 90 mph. That is the nature of young people and that is what they want to do. The main point is that they carry out the safety checks - that is where education comes in.

Senator David Norris has alluded to building awareness, as has Senator Martin Conway, through the GAA. I am a great lover of the GAA but I recognise that there are other organisations that can do this. It does not have to be prescriptive and does not have to be the GAA. Irrespective of what way it is done, a small amount of money can ensure that this recommendation, 3.2.1in the list, can succeed. The scrappage scheme is important, as is the use of Internet technology for training and the whole issue of slurry gas detection devices, on which I hope the Minister will comment.

We also have to look at tractor safety and farm safety visits from the Health and Safety Authority. Nobody likes to encounter these but this is what prevents deaths. People are aware that visits can and do take place. In 90% of cases where farm safety inspections are carried out, instructions are issued. In 10% of cases, prosecutions are carried forward. While there is a great deal of work to be done, this is a good start. It is all about making sure that people who go out to work on farms at 8 a.m. and in some cases at 6 a.m., depending on the time of year, until perhaps 10 p.m. are safe. They must learn to bring into their work practices safety from the moment they open the back door to go out in the morning until they come in at night. If that could be achieved, it would cut down on the number of fatalities and the serious injuries which we have not spoken about. I know people in my area who have lost limbs through farm accidents and whose lives have been ruined for ever more.

There is a job of work to be done. I look forward to the Minister's response. I know from his background and his work as a Minister that he is extremely interested in this area. This is not about money per se. It is about getting better practices in place that will ensure that people are safe in their workplace, which is the farm.