Teagasc is to provide a service to families affected by farm accidents to assist them cope in the immediate aftermath of such tragedies.
The new service was launched by the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed at this week’s National Ploughing Championships.
The service will be on a case-by-case basis and can be accessed by the family contacting their local Teagasc office. It will be a free service and will deal with technical, management and scheme assistance.
Speaking at the launch, Director of Teagasc, Professor Gerry Boyle said that Teagasc is delighted to provide this service in association with Embrace Farm and the Farm Safety Partnership.
“This is a very difficult time for farm families who are unfortunate enough to be victims of farm accidents and Teagasc will help out in any way possible with this new service.”
Brian Rohan, Chairman and founder of Embrace Farm, said the Teagasc service will dovetail with the aims of Embrace Farm which is to support farm families affected by farm accidents.
Farm accidents have a sudden and traumatic effect on all members of a farm family and farms by their nature are dangerous work places and as a result farms have a higher than overall percentage of accidents.
In many cases the farmer himself is killed, or seriously injured, which leaves many difficult decisions for the spouse and other family members. These relate to immediate decisions on continuing the successful running of the farm, both technically and financially.