Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber and wish him well in his role. When it comes to farm safety, it is said that it is often the simple things that can make the difference between life and death. That was a message that came out of an all-island farm safety conference held in Monaghan last year. One farmer explained how he had lost his leg after a piece of his overalls got entangled in a diet feeder. It will never happen to me is an old adage that is often said when it comes to accidents but we know too well that it might. When it comes to participation in farm safety events, however, it is the farmers who are not in the room who are the ones we need to target. The typical Irish attitude that it will not happen to oneself must be put aside once and for all. The statistics are frightening. I have some before me. Of deaths on farms in the first five months to the end of 2015, 80% were associated with farm vehicles and machinery. Over the past five months of this year, five people have lost their lives in farm accidents. Over the last ten years, 75% of fatal accidents involving children were associated with tractors, 17% with falls or collapses and 85 with drowning.

A huge amount of farm work is done by individuals working alone from early morning to late at night. It is unique and would not happen on any other industrial site. The farmer ends up being the Jack of all trades. Where a machine is broken down and the weather is threatening, he or she rolls up his or her sleeves and gets stuck in to fix it instantly. The image of the family farm is not generally one associated with death and injury but perhaps it should be. The farm continues to be the most dangerous workplace. Agriculture is unique in many ways. Unlike any other sector, accidents generally involve family members, including children and the elderly. The rate of fatal farm accidents per 100,000 farmers is 60% higher in Ireland than it is in the UK and double that of some other EU countries. That too is a startling statistic. More than 50% of fatal accidents in the Irish workplace in 2014 occurred on farms despite the fact that only 5% of the Irish workforce is engaged in agriculture. In addition, in excess of 3,000 individuals are injured in farm accidents annually. There is no comfort in these figures and no rose tinted glasses can hide the facts.

Death and injury on our farms is first and foremost a tragedy for all involved and their families. Many farm families in Ireland have experienced traumatic and life-changing accidents. They will live with that reminder for the rest of their lives. They stay on the site forever and every morning they wake, there is a constant reminder of what happened. Year-on-year statistics clearly show that age is also a major contributory factor in farm accidents in Ireland with the average age of an Irish farmer now standing at 57 and rising. Recent research by Teagasc shows that the age profile of families on Irish farms is changing. Older farmers face higher risks of farm occupational death than younger farmers and for the foreseeable future, the profile of Irish farmers will get older. Older farmers are less likely to have received any formal training on health and safety and are less likely to attend courses on farm safety. These are the people we need to target. Farm families contribute a great deal to the health of our economy and to the social cohesion of rural Ireland. Farmers must be assisted and encouraged to implement the changes that can minimise the risks to those who live on farms and assist farm families to cope with the consequences of accidents.

The challenge here is to strike a balance between the considerable financial and regulatory obligations on farmers and fostering the behavioural change required to reduce farm accidents and fatalities. Prioritising education on farm safety at primary school level is important as children are often good policemen and policewomen when it comes to reminding Daddy and Mammy about safety. The focus must continue at post-primary level where the exam-focused nature of education often leaves such initiatives trailing. There are no easy answers but more needs to be done to bring fatality levels down, at the very least, to those seen in Europe and the UK. Clearly, we have a job of work to do. I welcome the proposals the Minister has outlined today and look forward to us addressing this issue collectively to get the figures down to a level we can somehow call acceptable.