Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 February 2022
117. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to raise awareness regarding mental health and well-being of farmers and others working in the agri-business sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6882/22]
View answerThank you Deputy for addressing this very important topic.
My Department has co-funded, with the HSE and the Department of Health, a farmers physical and mental health awareness programme called, ‘On Feirm Ground’. The programme developed a 'Train the Trainer' programme that is currently being delivered nationally to those employed as farmer advisors. It is providing training for agricultural advisors to engage with and signpost farmers to supports in relation to health and wellbeing.
To date over 128 agricultural advisors have been trained, and a further 105 are registered to attend a further seven training courses this February. Further training of agricultural advisors is planned for June of this year.
Additionally, of the eight farm safety European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) projects that were approved in July of 2021, to the value of €1.8m, four are focused around mental health of people in the farming community. My Department will continue to monitor the progress of these projects and study the outcome of the projects to determine potential future steps.
