Farm deaths are continuing to rise and already this year 12 people have been killed on farms in work-related incidents, the most recent in Mayo last week.
Despite an intensive campaign by the Health and Safety Authority working with Teagasc, the agriculture advisory service, and the farm organisations, figures have continued to rise.
So far this year, the agriculture sector has outstripped construction where seven people have lost their lives. There were 23 construction-related deaths last year.
In agriculture, there were 18 deaths last year, 13 in 2004, 20 in 2003, 14 in 2002, 25 in 2001 and 16 in 2000.
The rate of worker fatalities per 100,000 workers in agriculture and fishing last year was 14.7, compared with 8.3 per 100,000 in the construction area.
A review of farm fatalities over the previous five years has found machinery caused 45.5 per cent of deaths.
There is a growing number of accidents caused by livestock, put at 12.5 per cent.
The felling of trees and handling of slurry was responsible for 7.5 per cent of the accidents in each sector.
Deaths from power-driven shafts on tractors or other machines cause 7 per cent of deaths, and falls from a height caused five per cent of fatalities.
Four per cent of the victims of the past five years were electrocuted, and 10.5 per cent of the deaths were caused by other factors.
In the decade to 2003, 200 people, including 43 children, died on farms. Farms accounted for more than 30 per cent of workplace deaths despite less than 8 per cent of the workforce being employed on the land at that stage.
There has been a drop in child farm fatalities but an increase in elderly people dying in farm accidents involving livestock.
One reason is the growth in part-time farming, where the farmer or his/her spouse works off the farm and older family members assist by feeding livestock.
Vets have also complained the growth in part-time farming has led to animals becoming more feral because of the lack of contact with humans.