Farm Safety
Dail Éireann — 2025-10-14
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Michael Healy-Rae (IND), Kerry

As I said at the beginning, this Government considers farm safety of the utmost importance. I highlight that farm safety continues to be one of the most critical issues that need to be addressed on farms today. Statistics show that over the past decade, farm incidences account for almost 40% of all workplace fatalities, while accounting for only 6.1% of the working population. In addition, there are approximately 4,500 non-fatal incidents each year on Irish farms, some of which result in life-changing injuries. Very sadly, 16 farm fatalities have been confirmed this year. There has also been one in the marine and aquaculture sector. We are fighting a battle. The Deputy is right to raise the issue. Everyone, on all sides of the House, wants our farms to become what building sites became. We must remember that at one time, building sites were not safe places to work but that changed thanks to the work of the HSA and stricter regulations. We all might have given out about that at times when we were adapting, but we grew into it. Our building sites have become far safer places. We want to do the same for our farmyards, farm machinery and farms in general. If we can model our farms on the way building sites changed, we will reduce the deaths and the non-fatal accidents.

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Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-14