An Irish MEP has called for the government here to introduce a mental health strategy specifically to address suicidal ideation in the farming community.
Maria Walsh, a Fine Gael MEP for the Ireland Midlands-Northwest constituency, said that suicide is a “silent pandemic that is casting a shadow across the farming community in rural Ireland”.
She was speaking after hosting an event on the issue in Brussels this week, as part of EU Mental Health Week.
Walsh co-hosted the event with Belgian MEP Tom Vandenkendelaere, her colleague from the European People’s Party (EPP), of which Fine Gael is a member.
According to Walsh, addressing suicidal ideation in the farming community is just as important as physical farm safety, saying that mental health challenges “have sadly become the norm”.
As part of the event, representatives from the schools of agriculture and psychology at University College Dublin (UCD) were invited to share their research on the issue, which found that almost 25% of Irish farmers are at risk of suicide.
The UCD representatives, Dr. Tomás Russel from the School of Agriculture and Food Science, and Prof. Louise McHugh from the School of Psychology, said that the findings of their research are “start but not surprising”.
The research showed that almost a quarter of farmers surveyed had had “suicidal thoughts or urges to take their own lives” in the two weeks prior to being surveyed.
Walsh said that she wanted to “ensure that the Irish farming and rural community were properly represented on the European stage” during EU Mental Health Week.
“Mental health difficulties in the farming community have been a silent pandemic for far too long, and something desperately needs to change,” the MEP commented.
She added: “Farm Safety is a major issue in rural Ireland. It is one that we hear about in the media and through safety campaigns, and rightly so. The difficulty, however, is that mental health is just as much of a problem in our farming community today and, sadly, we are still not talking about it.
“We need to break down the barriers and address the taboo. Our farming community, particularly in rural Ireland, is finding it really tough and we are continuing to ignore the difficulties.”
“We need to listen to farmers and involve the farming community in the discussion. We also must ensure that research is the backbone of any policy or support on farmer mental health, and that the voice of the faming community is heard,” Walsh said.