Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus na haíonna speisialta atá anseo sa Ghailearaí. Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a ghabháil leis na grúpaí ar fad a chur eolas chun cinn, go háirithe na Seanadóirí Ó Donnabháin agus Ó Conbhuí, a rinne an-obair ar fad ar an tuairisc seo.

I welcome this important and timely report. Its importance lies in the fact that for people living in and working on farms, the issue of farm safety can mean the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, this is especially the case when it comes to young people and children. As the report highlights, far too many adults and children are continuing to lose their lives on Irish farms. The report is timely because this is the fifth consecutive year in which the farm has been categorised as the most dangerous place in which to work. In 2014, over 50% of fatal accidents in the Irish workplace occurred on farms, even though the agricultural workforce accounts for just 5% of the overall labour force. Figures from the Health and Safety Authority show that fatalities in agriculture accounted for 30 deaths in 2014. This figure is particularly worrying given that there were just 16 fatalities in the previous year. In other words, we had an increase of 87% in 2014. It is also important to note that the rate of fatal farm accidents per 100,000 farmers in Ireland is 60% higher than in the UK and twice that of some EU countries. I welcome the report and its recommendations, especially those relating to education. There is a need to change behaviours and attitudes, build awareness, introduce a scrappage scheme and maximise the potential of new technologies.

I would like to inform Senators that the report we are discussing is not without its constructive critics, including the pupils of a national school near Tuam who have contacted me. They inform me that the school in question, Cloghan's Hill national school, is in County Mayo. I have visited this fantastic small one-teacher school and met its pupils who have read the report in full. They wanted to make a number of suggestions. They think the report is good but would like to make some points on the education of children strategy that is recommended in it. They would really like to have some more input and to share their ideas with the Minister. Perhaps he might be able to hear from them at some stage. I think they will be in the farm safety tent at the ploughing championships. I am sure they would love to meet the Minister. They point out that adults have produced all the schoolbooks and school plans in the area of farm safety education to date and they suggest that much more needs to be done. They think they can help planners and writers to relay these matters to children in a way that will make children more inclined to engage with them.

The students of Cloghan's Hill national school have argued that the parts of the report recommending that education be especially targeted at rural schools are worrying because we cannot be sure whether anyone might visit a farm on holidays in the future. They remind us that when we are teaching children, we are tools for moulding the minds of future adults. They ask who knows whether they will become a farmer or marry a farmer and therefore end up living on a farm. They think it is important for those reasons for farm safety to be taught in urban and rural areas. They have pointed out that farm safety can be a scary area for kids. They suggest that a clear divide between places of work and places of play needs to be defined clearly. They have established a website, farmsafety4kids.net, on which they have been conducting surveys on farm safety and chemical safety. They have been shocked by some of the results of the surveys they have conducted among the children of Ireland. They would like to get a chance to discuss those findings with us. I think they really have to be commended on the work done in Cloghan's Hill national school.

Obviously, the figures that have been mentioned are quite alarming. I would like to note that my colleague, Michelle O'Neill, who is the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the North, has taken a number of initiatives. I am aware that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has a very good working relationship with Michelle O'Neill, who has made farm safety a cross-cutting element of her Department's work. The Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development works as a member of the farm safety partnership, which was formed in 2012. The other partners on that organisation include representatives of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, the Ulster Farmers Union, the Young Farmers Clubs of Ulster, the National Farmers Union Mutual and the Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association. In 2014, the organisation launched the second action plan of the farm safety partnership, which reflects and seeks to build on the progress made under the earlier plan. The aim of the new plan is to influence future behaviour so that farmers, their families and their employees are capable, motivated and able to work safely to reduce accidents on farms.

This year, the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has continued its support of the farm safety partnership. All the indications are that the partnership's hard-hitting multimedia campaign is being very successful in raising awareness among the farming community of the dangers on our farms. As part of the 2014-20 rural development programme, the Northern Ireland Minister is currently developing programmes under the knowledge transfer measure. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Coveney, is going to outline for us that he has his own ideas in this regard. Knowledge transfer will incorporate business development groups that will focus on farm safety as one of their discussion topics. Through the farm family kills component of this measure, Michelle O'Neill and her colleagues are developing programmes that will focus on farm health and safety. They intend to continue to maintain the Farm SafeNet online training package, which allows farmers to go online and complete farm safety-related training.Since July 2015, more than 950 farmers in the North have completed the FarmSafeNet package. Officials in that Department are also working with colleagues in the Health and Safety Executive to develop the Make it Safer tool, which allows farmers to assess the dangers on their individual farms and record actions to make their farms safer. They are hoping to launch that later this year. They have also engaged with colleagues from the Farm Safety Partnership via the slurry working group, which was set up to specifically examine the dangers associated with slurry handling. Its work is ongoing. I outline that merely to say that we should, as we often do, take an all-island approach to some of the issues involved. We may not have to reinvent the wheel with respect to all the issues involved. I am sure that a transfer of knowledge, a sharing of experiences and a sharing of the expertise in this area in the Minister's Department would be useful.

Ba mhaith liom tréaslú leis an dream a chuir an tuairisc fíorthábhachtach seo le chéile. Tá go leor moltaí an-mhaith ann. Tá súil agam go mbeidh an tAire in ann cuid mhaith dóibh a thógáil ar bord agus iad a chur i bhfeidhm.