Farm Family Council Report October 2020

Activity since last National Council

• The National Public Health Emergency Team on Monday, 5^th October 2020 reported:
  • A total of 1,810 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.
  • A total of 38,549 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland, 518 new cases were confirmed on the 1^st September 2020.
  • The COVID-19 Dashboard provides the most up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.
• The following is an update on the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).

	No. of people in receipt PUP (15thSeptember)	No. of people in receipt of PUP (5th May)
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, Mining & Quarrying	2,945	8,600

• The number of people that closed PUP is as follows:

	No. that closed PUP(15th September)	No. that closed PUP(8st September)
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, Mining & Quarrying	97	100

• From 17^th September 2020 until 31^st January 2021 the COVID-19 PUP will be paid at three rates, if you earned:
  • €300 per week or more – the rate is €300 per week
  • between €200 and €300 per week – the rate is €250 per week
• A farmer must close their claim for the PUP payment on the actual date that they start to trade or go back to work. To stop payment you can either by contacting DEASP Income Support Helpline for COVID-19 on 1890 800 024 or online by clicking here.
• The following updates relate to Health and Safety:
  • There have been 16 farm fatalities officially recorded by HSA to date. To keep up to date on farm fatalities click here.
  • IFA, Agri Aware and AgriKids have agreed to develop a pilot farm safety programme for national school to raise awareness and teach kids how to be safe on farms.
  • A resilience workshop supported by Farm Business Skillnet has been organised for IFA members. The workshops will take place over two days on the following dates:
    • Group 1: 19th Oct 7pm to 10pm & 26th Oct 7pm to 10pm
    • Group 2: 20th October 10am to 1pm & 27th October 10am to 1pm

The resilience training is provided by Richard Burke, Resilience Matters.

• IFA had an online meeting with Aware, who provide is a free support and information for issues relating to depression or bipolar disorder (Freephone 1800 80 48 48). They also provide Support & Self Care Groups for people, aged 18 years and over, to talk openly about depression, bipolar disorder, other mood conditions and their impact. Since the start of Covid-19 their services have experienced a hundred percent increase in calls from people who are feeling more anxious. They have created a series of online resources for Mental Wellbeing during Covid.
• The Green Ribbon campaign launched, this year a new podcast series ‘See Change Sessions’ hosted by See Change Ambassador, Abigail McDonnell will start a conversation by diving deep and breaking down what mental health stigma is.
• Safeguarding Ireland, which promotes safeguarding of vulnerable adults, have undertaken RED C research, which has found a shift in the type of abuse people experienced during the pandemic period, with cyber abuse (internet, social media, online) becoming more common. Other findings include:
  • Scams and coercion online have increased during the pandemic.
  • People who are more isolated (such as in rural areas) faced an increased risk of abuse.

The full research is available here.

• The Department of Health launched new guidelines to help parents and carers establish good eating habits in children. The children’s food pyramid is for children aged 1 to 4, recommends include 3 servings of dairy and 2-4 servings of meat.
• IFA attended the National Women Council discussion on Women in Rural Committee, to update the paper and understand inequality issues facing women in rural areas and how we can advocate on these issues. The draft paper recommends the following:
  • To recognise the women involved in farming and develop specific measures to encourage women and girls into agriculture through addressing succession and inheritance barriers.
  • The promotion of farming as a career option for women through subject choice abd positive measures in agricultural education programmes.
  • Targeted measures around succession, joint partnerships and inheritance including recognition of women as successors by their families.
  • Practical measures to recognise women’s work on farms.
  • Specific measures to promote women’s involvement in decision making and leadership in all parts of agri-business sector.

Upcoming issues

• Progress the amendment to the Nursing Home Support Scheme Act to introduce three-year cap on productive assets.
• To finalise farm safety pilot programme for national schools.

Chair	Caroline Farrell
Executives	Farm Family – Geraldine O’Sullivan Farm Safety – William Shortall