Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very encouraged by what I have heard from the Minister. It is important that we had this debate. It is like a big 600-piece jigsaw puzzle that a young person is trying to put together. The work we have done through our committee is just one small piece of that jigsaw puzzle. We, the Minister, his Department and the organisations concerned all have a role to play. The Minister was correct is saying that attitudes will have to change.With regard to farm inspections or farm safety visits, it is a matter for young farmers, in particular, to have peer-to-peer discussions and learn from each other. An interesting statistic in our report is that the smallest number of accidents occurs among those aged between 12 and 60, because young farmers are educated, smart, efficient and capable, and that is important.

I want to pay a sincere compliment to Martin Groves, who did tremendous work as secretary to the committee. To use a west Cork expression, he did the donkey work and the heavy lifting, and we probably had the easier job in discussing the subject and coming up with policies.

On a matter related to changes in attitude, I read in today's Irish Examinerabout an issue that was raised by the Minister's former colleague from Cork South-Central, Deirdre Clune, MEP, namely, that €4 billion is being spent in the EU each year on farm compliance issues - in other words, to enforce farm regulations. When we consider the difficulties facing Greece and those that our economy has had and still has, we can see that €4 billion would go a long way towards dealing with some of those. We as a European community are spending €4 billion to ensure that farm regulations are complied with. That money is being spent on policing farmers.

We find there is the same attitude to farm safety.Human error will occur on farms. Incidents will happen on farms, particularly involving children and people over the age of 70 who are elderly and vulnerable. It is important to be focused and aware. I was encouraged by the various groups who made submissions and came to our committee hearings, some of whom are here today, and they are very welcome. I was particularly encouraged by a group of young people from the Mizen Peninsula, a very remote area, who are involved in a local GAA club. Not only have they done tremendous work in encouraging farm safety, but they have taken lessons in the new driving centre in Bantry, my home town, and they have also done work in their community with underage children on highlighting depression and other issues. If the communities and the public became more active and farming families a little more acutely aware of the potential danger on farms and what could happen, the work we have done would represent a small step towards improving the lot of farmers.

I understand and acknowledge the Minister's wonderful commitment to this issue. I have no doubt, le cúnamh Dé, that this year the number of people killed on farms will be down, and in the coming decade we should never again have the number of fatalities that occurred in 2014. We should strive to ensure the number is reduced to single digits, even though one death is one too many, and apart from that, many farmers suffer serious injuries. It is important that we have in some small way highlighted the issue through our work on farm safety. This debate brings the issue into focus for farm organisations, farming bodies and companies such as FBD that are involved in farming.As farming and agribusiness is pivotal to this small nation's economy, we cannot allow these tragedies to happen. The Minister was correct about over-inspection. We should refrain from using the word "inspection" and instead provide more encouragement in terms of farm visits, farm safety days and so on. If 5,000 gardaí were deployed to police our roads, that would not prevent all road deaths when we take human error and other causes into account. We can only do so much, and the carrot rather than the stick approach should be taken in this area. Farmers are already heavily regulated. They resent the use of inspections. If a farmer is told that he or she will be subject to an inspection the following week for health and safety reasons, the antenna go up and immediately they go into reverse rather than forward mode. We need to encourage farmers to allow farm safety visits.

I do not mean to be derogatory but someone over the age of 70 must do certain tests to be allowed to drive a car. It was frightening to learn that in 2014, many people over the age of 70, and some over 80, were involved in farm accidents, some to do with machinery. We might have to consider if there is an age beyond which someone should not be actively farming. It is not for me to decide that but we must examine all angles to see if we can reduce the number of deaths.

I thank the Minister sincerely, and everyone who contributed to the debate. We have had a good discussion and I am confident that with other similar debates and all of us working together, and if we save one life this year and perhaps two next year, we will be going in the right direction.