Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 April 2015
267. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the farm safety campaigns that are planned with the Health and Safety Authority, in view of the fact that leading industry experts have expressed concern about the likely increase in farm accident numbers, given that milk production is forecast to increase by 50% by 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14357/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraFarm 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 has included a Farm Safety Leaflet in the information packs which issued to over 130,000 farmers recently. The Department will also be using its text messaging service to issue safety messages to farmers at critical times of the year.
Furthermore, to demonstrate our on-going support for farm safety, the Minister for Business and Employment, Minister Ged Nash TD and I joined together yesterday with local farmers and members of the Farm Safety Partnership in Grangebellew, Co. Louth to look at key messages and areas of risk on the farm. There were four key areas covered during the walk; yard and building design, tractors and machinery, livestock handling and slurry management.
