Noel McCarthy
Question:11. Deputy Noel McCarthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline the measures being taken by his Department to encourage farm safety and farmer well-being. [70978/26]
View answerThursday, 8 October 2026
Questions (11)
Oral answers (5 contributions)
The safety, health and well-being of our farmers is a priority for the Government. The programme for Government commits to prioritising improvements in farm safety and farmer health and well-being through strengthened supports, with a specific focus on farmer mental health and well-being.
With dedicated funding of €3 million allocated in budget 2026, the Minister and I are prioritising efforts to support the safety, health and well-being of farmers and everyone working and living on farms. This year, we awarded €1.18 million in funding to 46 farm safety, health and well-being projects under an open call. Those projects will play an important role in helping to address farming's poor safety record and in supporting farmer health and well-being. In May this year, the Department reopened the national farm safety measure, which provides a financial contribution to participating farmers covering 60% of the eligible cost for up to four power take-off, PTO, shaft covers, which can help to prevent the types of devastating accidents that have left people severely injured or dead.
Building on the success of projects promoting children's awareness of farm safety in recent years, the Department is currently funding several initiatives to promote farm safety awareness among primary school and second level students and among children and young people at public events and agricultural shows.
The Department funded the printing of the Farming in Older Age booklet from the Health and Safety Authority, which was distributed to approximately 122,000 farmers as part of the 2026 basic income support for sustainability, BISS, packs that went out in the post.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. I am pleased to see the importance with which the Department is treating farm safety and farmer well-being. I note the increase in dedicated funding to promote health and safety outlined in budget 2027. As we all know, farming is a vitally important job and the backbone of rural Ireland. Unfortunately, it is also a job that is frequently dangerous and lonely. There are thousands of non-fatal accidents on Irish farms each year and, most regrettably, some fatalities. It is important, therefore, that we make every effort to make our farms, and the machinery used on them, as safe as possible. With that in mind, will the Minister of State indicate what specific departmental schemes currently provide farmer health and safety training as part of their roll-out and if there are any plans to expand those schemes over the coming year?
My Department is supporting research in this important area, including research to develop evidence-based strategies, improve safety technologies and promote mental and physical well-being in farming communities.
The farm safety capital investment scheme, FSCIS, under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, 3 has a higher rate of payment of 60% for investments related to farm safety. In addition, the accelerated capital allowances scheme for farm safety equipment covers a broad range of farm safety investments, in addition to adaptive equipment for farmers with disabilities. That scheme was continued out to 2029 under this week's budget, with 12 further items of equipment added.
Health and safety guidelines are included in all my Department's building specifications for the construction of agricultural buildings and structures. Farm safety, health and well-being training is included in a range of schemes, including the suckler carbon efficiency programme, SCEP, the training scheme under the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, and the knowledge transfer programme.
I again thank the Minister of State for his very positive response. Farmer safety and well-being is a matter about which I feel passionately. I commend the farming associations on their continued promotion of this agenda and its discussion at the relevant Oireachtas committees and here in the Chamber. Will the Minister of State outline the programmes currently being run by his Department to promote physical and mental health awareness among the farming community? Will he also expand on the health and well-being supports being offered specifically to young farmers and disabled farmers? I thank him for all he has done so far.
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and giving me the opportunity to give it an airing in Dáil Éireann. The whole issue of farm safety and farmer health and well-being is one we need to discuss more. It is one of my areas of responsibility as Minister of State. The Minister and I take every opportunity to raise these issues, mainly through public appearances. We have undertaken a significant number of engagements all around the country. A significant number of projects are being funded through our open call. The Deputy has asked for examples. I do not have the list to hand but I will furnish that information to him later.
Suffice it to say that we cannot visit every farm holding. It is just not logistically or physically possible. However, all the organisations the Department partners with as part of our farm safety and farmer health and well-being campaign, including the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, provide a reach into our farming communities through attending marts and agricultural shows. It is that type of effort, along with a lot of engagement on social media and broadcast media to try to create awareness and promote the message. There is also the more traditional method of sending the leaflet in the post by way of the BISS packs for the benefit of those who are not on social media or otherwise media engaged.