Speaking "as a mother", Minister for Agriculture and Food Mary Coughlan said yesterday that "children should not be in farmyards, near slurry pits or in the fields". She appealed to farmers during the current harvest season to take special care to prevent injuries to children.
Referring to the dangers of "very powerful" modern harvesting machines she said it is essential "to make sure there are no children around" while they are being used and also warned farmers to ensure that farm vehicles are "properly lit".
A review of farm fatalities published earlier this week revealed that machinery caused almost half of the deaths. The Minister described Ireland's record in farm safety as "abysmal" and of "major concern". She was commenting on the death of an 11-year-old boy on a farm in Co Kilkenny earlier this week, which she described as a "a desperate tragedy".
Ms Coughlan offered her condolences to the family of Richard Ryan, whose funeral takes place in Mooncoin village in south Kilkenny this morning.
He died on Tuesday after being crushed by a tractor while helping with the potato harvest on a neighbour's farm. He was the 13th person to die as a result of accidents on farms in 2006.