Speaking at the official opening of the Tullamore Show on Sunday afternoon, Minister Coveney said the structures are in place to decrease the number of farm fatalities and now the onus is on farmers changing their approach to farm safety. The Minister referenced the Farm Safety Schemes as part of TAMS I and TAMS II as being crucial to improving farm safety.

“This year needs to be a watershed year for farm safety,” Minister Coveney said.

“Last year was the most tragic year on Irish farms and must never be repeated again. This year, already, we have seen too much tragedy. We are trying to do more than we have ever done. We are putting more money into policy to raise awareness of farm safety, but we need to do more.

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"We are linking TAMS to farm safety ... all the new discussion groups [in Knowledge Transfer] are being linked to farm safety and nobody applying for a TAMS grant will get a grant unless they complete a farm safety training course.

“We are doing everything we can within our authority but, ultimately, the people who can really change the statistics and the trauma around farm safety is you, the farmers,” Coveney said before adding that farmers’ families also must drive the agenda of promoting farm safety.

There have been 10 fatalities on Irish farms so far this year. A total of 30 people lost their lives while on Irish farms in 2014.