Social Isolation
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-21
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Conor D. McGuinness (SF), Waterford

I ask the Minister of State about the farmers' yard initiative developed - in this country in any case - by Dr. Shane Conway and Dr. Maura Farrell, and piloted successfully in Mountbellew mart. I met recently with Dr. Shane Conway to discuss the model. It uses marts as trusted social spaces for older farmers, combining peer-to-peer support, information sharing, social contact and discussion around issues such as succession, ageing, isolation and farm life. As we discussed earlier, social isolation, particularly in rural Ireland, is reaching crisis levels, so this is a timely initiative. Is the Minister of State familiar with the initiative and does he see its potential as part of rural regeneration and rural enterprise development?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-21