Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)

I reiterate the remarks of my colleague, Senator Rabbitte, when it comes to water safety on the eve of the bank holiday weekend. In that vein, it is a similar issue I wish to raise, which is farm safety. In that same sphere of coming into the June bank holiday weekend with the ever-increasing workload on farms, including silage making, hay making and, in my area, going to the bog, it is a busy period. With that extra workload and that children are now coming home on school holidays, and we all know farm families live on their farm, the farmyard is a playground as well as being an area where there are many risks.

Going into the long weekend, I welcome and note that, this morning, Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, has issued a statement urging people to be conscious and safe. Along the lines of Senator Rabbitte, when it comes to teaching and learning to swim in schools, as someone who has a farm safety Bill in the system and who has done a lot of work on this, I am convinced that, to overcome this problem, we need to start at the very lowest level and that is in our national schools. If children are aware of the hazards and children can see the dangers, they will police mammy, daddy, granny and grandfather.

With that in mind, I warmly welcome the primary school art competition that has been introduced and announced recently by Teagasc and Alma Jordan of AgriKids. I ask all Members here who are ever-present on social media in their local communities to promote this. If they go to Teagasc's or AgriKids' social media, they can promote that this art competition is being run in conjunction with a webinar that is being organised by Teagasc and many school visits by Alma from AgriKids. Unfortunately, the closing date is 6 June, only ten days away. It would be really appreciated if Members could use their influence on social media or their contacts in their local national schools to get the children involved. It is an art piece to highlight the importance of safety or hazards on farms. It is a brilliant exercise and very worthwhile. If we can educate our children, they will the police and they will educate the older generations on farms.