Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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135. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures his Department is taking to ensure the good mental health and well-being of farmers. [13808/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for raising this question on such an important issue.

Farm safety, health and wellbeing is a priority for this Government. There is a specific focus in the Programme for Government on farmer mental health and well-being, recognising the unique challenges faced by the sector.

Through dedicated funding of €2.5 million allocated in Budget 2025, my Department will continue to implement existing and new initiatives, building on previous efforts to improve farm safety, health and wellbeing. These include initiatives to support increased awareness of the importance of mental health among farmers.

Along with the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health, my Department is co-funding a farmers physical and mental health awareness programme called ‘On Feirm Ground 2’. This expanded programme is providing training for agricultural advisors, vets, Department staff, members of farming organisations and other agricultural professionals and service providers, to signpost farmers to supports in relation to health and wellbeing.

I am supporting research into farmer mental health. Examples of projects include the DCU led FarMHealth Research Project which examined farmers mental health literacy and help-seeking behaviour to inform the development of an educational mental health intervention for farmers. The UCD-led “Farming Minds: Developing evidence-based interventions to enhance farmer mental health, aims to develop and test the feasibility and effectiveness of a scalable evidence-based psychological intervention for farmers.

Last year, I supported 20 farm safety, health and wellbeing projects under an Open Call. Over half of these projects focused on farmer's mental health and wellbeing.

My Department distributed the HSA’s Farm Safety Partnership booklet on “Farmers’ Health and Wellbeing - A Guide to Staying Healthy While Farming” in the BISS packs in 2023. This year, the HSA’s ‘Guidance on Managing Fatigue with Farm Work’ booklet will be distributed in the 2025 BISS packs.

My colleague, Michael Healy-Rae T.D., Minister of State with special responsibility for farm safety and Department officials are currently developing further initiatives for 2025 and will be announced in due course.

As I mentioned at the outset, farm safety, health and wellbeing is a priority for me and my colleague Minister Healy-Rae, as we fully recognise the unique set of pressures farmers are experiencing. This Government will continue to invest in supporting the health and wellbeing of farmers and the rural communities in which they live.