Farmer Mental Health and Farm Safety: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2025-11-12
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Joanne Collins (SF), Agricultural Panel

I welcome the two Ministers of State. I thank them for being here. It is an important and topical issue that we need to be discussing. We need to make sure that these farmers are getting the supports that they need. I am delighted to hear of the extra hours that the Department has allocated. Farming is one of the most important, but also one of the most dangerous professions in this country. Our farmers are the backbone of rural Ireland. They provide us with our food, sustain our local economies and preserve the rural way of life. In return, we owe them something very simple: a safe, fair and supportive environment for them to work. Yet, year after year farms remain the most dangerous workplaces in the State. Almost half of all workplace fatalities happen in agriculture. Eighteen people lost their lives already this year. That is 18 too many. Over the past decade, more than 200 families have been left without a loved one because of farm fatalities. Behind those numbers is a parent, partner, son or daughter. Lives are cut short in communities where everybody in that community understands and knows the tragedy that occurs on a farm.
Around 4,500 farm accidents happen every year. Nearly half of them require hospitalisation. The main causes are too familiar, such as tractors turning over, uncovered PTO shafts, poor cattle handling facilities, livestock aggression after calves are born, and slurry related drowning and gas poisoning. The truth is that even the most experienced and careful farmer can be caught out. When an accident happens in a remote field or yard, it can be fatal because there is no help nearby. That is why in Sinn Féin we believe that farm safety has to become a national priority, not just a line in a policy document. We need to see the real investment in safer infrastructure through schemes like the targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, TAMS.
Farm safety education should be early. It should be in our colleges, but also in our schools. I was delighted to hear that we have Agrikids that goes into schools. It needs to be prioritised and needs to be across the country. It is the younger ones, when they see and understand the safety side of it, who will go home and explain. They should not have to explain to their parents, but they are the best ones to pull us up on what we are doing wrong. We need the Department to ensure that every farm scheme and course includes the clear safety requirements and supports.
There is the other side to farm safety. There is a side that is unseen, which is the mental health side of it. Farming is not just physically demanding; it is also very lonely and can be so for many farmers. Many farmers work long days alone often under financial and regulatory pressure. When times are tough, that isolation can turn dangerous. Unfortunately, rural isolation, succession uncertainty, income insecurity and rising operational costs are all taking a toll on mental health. Too many farmers are carrying that weight in silence. Sinn Féin has consistently called for a joined-up rural and mental health strategy, one that brings together the health, agriculture, community and transport policies to tackle isolation and to improve the access to supports.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-11-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:18+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-11-12