Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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91. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applicants under the Farm Safety Scheme to date; the funding allocated for 2015; if he will provide this information in tabular form and by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12266/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Farm Safety is a critical issue facing farming today and is something that I am seriously concerned about. It has been identified as a priority area for investment under TAMS II and it is proposed that a new Farm Safety Scheme will be introduced in 2015, subject to EU Commission approval of Ireland's Rural Development Programme. The Knowledge Transfer measure proposed under the new RDP will also include a mandatory Farm Safety module as part of its training for farmers. Separately, my Department included a Farm Safety Leaflet in the information packs being issued currently to over 130,000 farmers. The Department will also be using its text messaging service to issue safety messages to farmers at critical times of the year.

The current Farm Safety Scheme has been designed to overcome some of the particular hazards which may be present on farms. A total of €12.2m has been allocated to this scheme and 6,299 applications for aid were received before the final closing- date in January. As these applications are still being considered, a breakdown of funding per County is not yet available and the following applications have not yet been approved: