Farmers in Clare are being reminded “it’s better to lose a minute of your life, than your life in a minute”.
The warning from this county’s branches of the Irish Farmers Association and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association follows two serious incidents on Irish farms this week.
Earlier this week in Leitrim, a teenage boy lost his life when the tractor he was a passenger in crashed, while the driver of the vehicle, another teenager, was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
In a separate incident on a farm in Cork, a child was hospitalised following an incident with a cow.
The two incidents have sparked warnings from local farmers associations and Clare ICMSA Secretary, Martin McMahon who’s a farmer in O’Callaghans Mills says it’s disturbing for two farm accidents to occur in such close proximity to each other.
Meanwhile, Clare’s IFA Farm Family & Social Affairs Committee Chair claims education on farm safety needs to be taught in primary schools.
Killaloe farmer Caroline Lynch says there’s particular concern about young people lacking in experience using high powered vehicles and machinery.
She’s also urging farmers to take time to analyse what areas on their land could be considered potential risks.
You can listen to the full interview here:
