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AN INCREASE IN activity on Irish farms in recent years is one of the main factors contributing to the surge in farm fatalities, IFA President Eddie Downey said yesterday, as he insisted the sector had made “huge strides” in tackling the issue.
In every area, Irish farms are “better cleaner and tidier than they were” Downey told reporters at his organisation’s AGM in Bluebell, west Dublin.
“The problem is they’re busier. And there’s a stress level there we need to tackle,” he added.
Lack of profitability is forcing people to do more work, [and] spend more hours on what they’re doing to try and get enough of an income to support a family.
“That’s been a particular problem in the last couple of years, because you’ve seen the drop in the rural development payments.”
“We’re now seeing a start to CAP reform. Those payments are going to increase, and for the next number of years we’ll see increases there.”
Farmers are taking the issue of farm safety “very seriously” he said, noting a recent increase in uptake of farm safety grants.
He urged farm workers to ”think defensively” when leaving the house for work in the morning, and to remember that they are spending their day in a workplace that could be dangerous.
Thirty people died on the country’s farms last year, including three children under the age of 16 and nine people over 65 — the worst figure in a quarter of a century.
The IFA has launched a campaign on the issue with information and other resources. Merchants are also coming on board with the scheme, putting a ‘SAVE LIVES’ banner on feed and fertiliser bags.
The issue will be spoken about at every meeting held by the IFA this year, Downey said, noting:
A lot of the rooms that we’re speaking to, there’s somebody in that room has been hit by it.
“Nobody goes out in the morning to kill themselves,” IFA General Secretary Pat Smith said, noting that farmers appeared to be making simple mistakes when it came to machinery, due to “speed and rushing”.
It’s the simplest of stuff — not putting on a handbrake…
He said farmers also needed to avoid being distracted by their mobile phones, noting that it was something that had been discussed at top-level meetings recently.
“You just have to keep attention,” Smith stressed. “Park the mobile phone if you’re involved in something potentially dangerous.”
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IFA needs to go. Even the farmers want a new more relevant organisation to help them
Very distasteful and opportunistic by the IFA to link farm profitability to tragic accidents.
The farmers should do a course on farm safety and be issued with a safe pass if they pass the exam like the buildings sites.
Well said now that’s a very sensible
An awful lot of them did during the boom ..
Do you all appreciate the high levels of illiteracy among the farming community – It is why how the church and state have maintained control for years …
Who fills out all the forms quietly and says nothing ? – In most cases the local T.D.s secretary ..
That’s why they were brought in sure .
Urban people haven’t a clue about real rural Ireland now do they .
The pendulum is swinging though – a lot of fellas weren’t long educating themselves on property law and rights once Enda and Alan Shatter and Phil Hogan sent armed Gardai into the bog to confiscate private property – before it broke any law – it must be pointed out .
A digger on a lorry can’t cut turf – it has to be in the bog to do that …..
These are the nuances that have raised the heckles …..very hard to lower heckles without change !
The 3 politicians named above are named as they were Minister for the Taoiseach , Minister for Justice and Environment at the time .
What are you on about?? Alot of farmers are very well educated by now and they have to be, at this stage farming is a highly technical job whether it’s dairy, beef or tillage.
As for literacy I’d say the level of farmers with no skills atall are extremely small and quite possibly of the elder generations. Furthermore many farmers who struggle with literacy have a number of schemes open to them to improve literacy should they wish to. It’s insulting in the extreme of you to label farmers as a bunch of uneducated people.
Dermot Ryan you’re in denial about the extremely poor safety culture on Irish farms, thats most unhelpful as the first step to changing that culture is to acknowledge it.
A safe pass is a piece of paper that helps protect nobody. The change of ethos which has being happening needs to continue
They have cuts and lose workers/help so they do more and just struggle more. It leads to accidents and more. People are working with lethal machinery and need guard on reducing speed I know but…. Better than disability.
Supermarkets do squeeze farmers, the pricing of their products is scandalous and so they rush to produce more to produce a living. Many have families, many down here are just isolated and alone.
How about on the job training for the learners as there used to be? Longer and more thorough apprenticeships are needed, and, unemployed should be doing at least one day a week work to help and to,learn a skill (is that very unreasonable of me?) but it would keep them in the and add to cv.
Things do need to be given a complete rethink in Ireland for, let us face it, it is not working for the people nor keeping the workers safe.
Yes, there are still illiterate folk but it does not mean they are stupid but uneducated and that is not the same thing at all.
Try talking to the canny ones hereabouts.
IFA adding 2 and 2 and getting 12 yet again. what complete idiots
All the IFA are doing are looking after there big pay packets. €160 a year membership plus a levy on every litre of milk and also a levy on each animal sent to the factory. It costs anything over €700 a year and for what.
The farmers in this country have been swamped with money from Europe for decades and they contributed damn all to the exchequer and they poison our lakes and rivers with slurry and they don’t believe this is our land. They say it’s their land but we have to keep paying for it. They’re never done crying
#1 go read the EPA reports of water quality.
#2 agriculture was the thing that dug the country out of the hole the banks got us in
The slurry is bad around here. I agree so I hate the stuff.
I have to have bottled water for those times and think they should pay my bill!! My well not safe then.
I only have trouble us drought, freezing and slurry times.
Farmers need to be more careful.
have your say