James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I welcome Senator Paul Daly's Bill. I believe it is important that it highlights an area that is of considerable concern. There are many reasons for the statistics, which the Senator has read into the record. He noted that in the past ten years, between 2009 and 2018, the number of workplace fatalities in agriculture was 486 or 41% of the total number of workplace fatalities. Yet agriculture staff represent only 6% of the total workforce. Clearly the types of accidents happening on farms arise for a host of different reasons. I grew up on a farm myself. I spent every summer there. People become very familiar with cattle and large animals. People take things for granted. There is heavy machinery around the place. Children are playing in yards. Farmyards and farms are now places of work. That is the culture shift of which we need to ensure that people take cognisance. There has been a considerable number of farm visits by the Health and Safety Authority and those responsible take this issue seriously. I understand in the region of €500,000 has been spent on this area. Nonetheless, we have an unacceptability high incidence rate. There are terrible tragedies and children are particularly vulnerable. There is an old saying holding that familiarity breeds contempt. In this instance, familiarity breeds a little indifference and comfort. I am always taken aback at how many older farmers walk with their back to large cattle and take the view that they are quiet. Sometimes they are unpredictable and that can result in terrible damage. It is not only the fatalities we are concerned with but the lifelong injuries that many suffer as a consequence of activity around farmyards. As we know, many farmyards are now busy places as farms expand.

I hear precisely what Senator Gallagher said in respect of the social isolation that farmers feel, but that is for another day. Some good advertisements have been made by the HSA on farm safety. One such advertisement is running at the moment.There were older ones, too, notably those highlighting the danger of children falling into large collection vessels for water. Those types of tragic accidents did happen over the years. We need a major effort to educate farmers and farming families that the yard is a workplace that can be dangerous and is not, as it used to be, an extension of the home.

I welcome Senator Paul Daly's efforts to address these issues in the Bill. I am pleased the Government is not opposing it but will instead seek to explore, with the Senator, how to forward his ambition of reducing the number of fatalities and injuries that occur on farms. I agree that the Health and Safety Authority is in a position to take a leading role. The Senator does not intend that a separate agency be established but, rather, that a body within the HSA be given this function. How that might work in practice is a matter for further exploration. I welcome the emphasis placed on the serious issue of health and safety on farms. It is something that requires special attention as we seek to keep rural communities intact and encourage people to settle in rural areas instead of migrating to cities.